Ross County steamroller Dundee as Staggies record biggest ever top flight victory to record first Premiership win of the season
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Dundee 0
Ross County 5 (Clarke, Callachan, Hungbo, Charles-Cook x2)
Ross County made a statement against Dundee by scoring five goals to record their first Premiership victory of the season.
It looked far too easy for the Staggies when they went forward for most of the match, and they were good value for their four goal lead.
Harry Clarke, Ross Callachan, Joseph Hungbo and Regan Charles-Cook had put County in a commanding position, before Charles-Cook claimed his second of the match after the break to round off the result.
Although they were four goals up at half time, it was by no means dominance from the first whistle from County's point of view.
Alex Iacovitti missed a high ball early on and needed the returning Connor Randall to prevent Leigh Griffiths getting a shot in on goal.
Charlie Adam then struck the ball from distance with an effort that may have moved in the air based on Ashley Maynard-Brewer's flailing save, but he did keep it out.
Two minutes later, the scoring started. Iacovitti got his head up to play a long diagonal ball towards an offside Joseph Hungbo, but he left it to allow Harry Clarke to move forward in position, drive into the box and find the net.
It was nearly more just after the 20 minute mark as Regan Charles-Cook drifted over to the right for an overload with Hungbo and Clarke, hitting a loose ball just over the bar.
County did get their second before half an hour was on the clock, and it stemmed from an error from Dundee goalkeeper Adam Legzdins.
His attempted clearance hit a charging Jordan White, and the ball fell kindly for Ross Callachan to slot it away into the bottom corner.
If there were elements of luck or controversy about County's first two goals, their third was simply a phenomenal hit.
Hungbo stood over a free kick 30 yards from goal, just right of centre where it looked like he may cross for a teammate. There may as well not have been any other shirt in the box though, as the on-loan Watford man produced a fabulous strike that clipped the bar on its way into the top corner.
That was the cue for Dundee manager James McPake to take Paul McMullan – always a threat with his blistering pace – off the pitch and replace him with Danny Mullen to a chorus of "you don't know what you're doing" from the home support.
It would get worse for those fans before the interval though, as Callachan's shot from the right was saved, but only parried out to the left wing where Randall picked it up and put the ball into the six-yard box where Charles-Cook was left with a simple tap-in to make it 4–0.
Dundee did look more organised after the restart, but there was still so much space in their half, allowing County to carry the ball 20 or 30 yards up the pitch with ease to alleviate pressure.
When the hosts did get into the final third, there was still the odd nervy moment in the Staggies backline with a missed header or two, but unlike in recent weeks they were not punished as the defenders in yellow managed to recover.
In many ways the result looked like a formality, more so as the half drew on, but County would rubber stamp their authority on proceedings with a fifth goal.
Clarke and White played a neat one-two on the halfway line that gave the full back the length of the Dundee half to run in to if he wanted.
As it was, he elected to pull it back into the middle where Charles-Cook was waiting, under no pressure at all, with time to fire past Legzdins and into the bottom corner.
To their credit, Dundee did keep trying to go forward, and Griffiths had an effort at goal that needed to be saves by Maynard-Brewer, and was.
The destination of the points were long beyond doubt at that stage though as County closed the gap at the bottom of the Premiership table to a single point.
The Staggies will be looking to take all the momentum this result will give them into Saturday's match against Hibernian in Dingwall.
Dundee: Legzdins, Kerr, Marshall, Sweeney, McGhee, McGowan, Ashcroft, McMullan, Adam, Griffiths, Cummings.
Subs: Lawlor, Fontaine, Mullen, Elliot, McCowan, Panter, Sheridan.
Ross County: Maynard-Brewer, Randall, Baldwin, H. Paton, Callachan, Iacovitti, Charles-Cook, Clarke, Tillson, Hungbo, White.
Subs: Laidlaw, Spittal, D Samuel, Robertson, Watson, Burroughs, B Paton.
