Rampant Ross County run riot against East Fife as seven-goal thrashing sees Staggies ease into next round of Premier Sports Cup as group winners
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Ross County 7 (Loturi, Purrington, Hiwula, Edwards x2, Olaigbe x2)
East Fife 0
Ross County simply outclassed East Fife to book their place in the knockout stages of the Premier Sports Cup.
A quiet opening stretch gave way to a barrage of goals for the Staggies, with Owura Edwards and Kazeem Olaigbe each claiming a brace.
Victor Loturi scored with a memorable finish of his own, as did Ben Purrington and Jordy Hiwula as Yan Dhanda and the debuting William Akio were at their creative best to have Coutny's supporters celebrating long before the final whistle.
The Staggies dominated possession in what it must be said was a quiet opening 20 minutes.
There were multiple occasions of nice passing interchanges, but although the pressure was on East Fife's defence visiting goalkeeper Jude Smith was never really troubled.
That changed around 25 minutes in, when County took the lead through Victor Loturi.
County won the ball back inside their own half, and quickly looked to move forward by getting the ball up to Jordy Hiwula. The in-form striker then passed to Owura Edwards, who in turn gave it to Yan Dhanda, and it was the former Swansea City man who teed up Victor Loturi to curl the ball into the top corner form the edge of the box.
Josh Sims had to come off soon afterwards, meaning an earlier than expected debut for William Akio.
County were not deterred, though, as they made it 2–0 before half time.
A free-flowing move forward saw Dhanda again turn provider for a teammate, this time picking out Ben Purrington who had ventured forward and found a way past Jude Smith.
County went into the interval good value for their two-goal lead, but they were able to double it minutes after the restart.
Inside 60 seconds it was again Dhanda instrumental to the move, turning brilliantly past a couple of East Fife players and charging forward before feeding in Akio with a nice pass.
Akio then picked out Hiwula at the back post, who would have found it more difficult to miss than score with his tap in to make it 3–0.
It was four less than a minute later, as Hiwula produced a similar turn and pass to Akio, who this time found Edwards in the middle to prod past Smith.
Not long after, Edwards scored his second with a phenomenal solo effort, cutting in from the left flank and smashing the ball into the top corner from distance.
The Staggies scored their sixth just before the hour mark ticked over, as another cross from Akio found Kazeem Olaigbe, only for his shot to be blocked. Something of a scramble ensued inside the East Fife box as County tried to force the ball in and the visitors desperately tried to clear, but it eventually fell once again to Olaigbe to finish.
East Fife looked completely demoralised by this point, and while County could have been content to just keep control of the ball they would instead keep adding to the scoreline.
For their seventh goal, Olaigbe had the space to knock the ball past his marker and charge past him, before firing into the net leaving Smith with no chance.
The one drawback for the Staggies late on was an injury to Akio, who was forced off leaving County to see out the game with 10 men.
Victory in Dingwall meant that Dunfermline's result no longer mattered to County, who sealed top spot in Group C and earned their way into the second round of the Premier Sports Cup.
They will discover their opponents tomorrow, after the final match in the group stages has been completed.
Ross County: Laidlaw, Randall, Purrington, Baldwin (Johnson 56), Iacovitti (Harmon 46), Edwards (Olaigbe 56), Callachan, Dhanda (Paton 67), Sims (Akio 29), Loturi, Hiwula.
Subs not used: Eastwood, Watson, Tillson, White.
East Fife: Smith, Murdoch, Mercer, Millar, Steele, Schiavone (Slattery 75), Shepherd (Cunningham 81), Newton, Walls, Denham, L Williamson.
Subs not used: Fleming, Allan, Martin, J Healy, Anderson, M Williamson, C Healy.
Referee: Mike Roncone
Attendance: 726 (26 away)
