Tale of two penalties as Stewart spot kick fires Ross County to opening day win over Motherwell
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Ross County 1 (Stewart)
Motherwell 0
Ross County started the campaign with a professional 1–0 victory over Motherwell at the Global Energy Stadium.
A dominant performance in the first half gave them the base for victory, underpinned by the workrate of Lee Erwin and Ross Stewart out wide.
Stewart's penalty was enough to see off the Steelmen, who missed a spot kick of their own in the second half before being reduced to 10 men.
Motherwell got the first chance of the evening through Jordan Tillson's foul on the edge of his own box.
Chris Long stepped up to strike the ball, but despite the good position his effort was blazed high and wide.
County then bit back with a chance of their own from a set-piece when Lee Erwin met Iain Vigurs' corner, but Trevor Carson was there to punch the ball away.
Carson was called into action again in the 10th minute, this time needing a bit of help from his post.
Right back Connor Randall played an early cross into the box where Erwin was there to flick it on. It seemed a hopeful header, but Ross Stewart made up the ground to get a shot in from close range at a tight angle.
Carson could only parry the fierce shot onto his own woodwork, and it bounced clear from there.
Erwin continued to be in the thick of the action 10 minutes later when he received the ball from teenager Josh Reid, before playing a one-two with Harry Paton to go past his marker and to the byline – but Carson gathered in his attempted cross.
Just past the midway point of the half though, County took the lead.
Erwin crossed into the box from the right, here Declan Gallagher tried to clear it away but only found Paton, who was first to the ball and taken down inside the box by the Steelmen defender.
The referee pointed to the penalty spot, and Ross Stewart stepped up to send Carson the wrong way, and the Staggies in front.
Motherwell almost hit back immediately though, when Mark O'Hara played Long in one-on-one with Ross Laidlaw.
The forward went for power over placement and beat the County goalkeeper, but could only watch as his shot cannoned back off the post.
The visitors had most of the ball in the early part of the second half without really connecting play together, but a warning shot just after the hour mark was a reminder to County that they were still very much in the game.
Sherwin Seedorf, who had come on for the quiet Jake Hastie, cut in from the right wing and curled a pinpoint cross into the back post where Callum Lang was waiting.
The on-loan Wigan forward looked primed to score, but his header was too close to Laidlaw who made a reflexive save to preserve County's lead.
Motherwell received a prime opportunity to level in the 72nd minute when Coll Donaldson downed his former Inverness Caledonian Thistle teammate Jordan White inside the Ross County area, but his blushes were spared when Liam Donnelly sent his spot kick wide.
From there substitutions came into play, breaking up the rhythm of the match, but Seedorf did look lively for the travellers.
Regan Charles-Cook came on to make his County bow, and a counter attack led by him and Oli Shaw resulted in a County free kick seven minutes from time, which Stewart fired high and wide.
Michael Gardyne had looked busy after coming on too, and it was when he tried to break from a Motherwell corner in the 86th minute that Lang scythed him down, resulting in a straight red card for the Motherwell forward.
That man advantage helped County see out the match without further incident, and they will be pleased to take all three points from their evening's work.
Ross County: Laidlaw, Randall, Mckay (Shaw 83), Erwin (Charles-Cook 74), Vigurs, Iacovitti, Tillson (Draper 83), Paton (Gardyne 65), Donaldson, Stewart, Reid.
Subs not used: Morris, Mullin, Watson, Kelly, Doohan.
Motherwell: Carson, Grimshaw, Gallagher, Lamie, McGinley, O'Hara (Lang 45), Donnelly, Turnbull (Watt 83), Polworth, Hastie (Seedorf 59), Long (White 71)
Subs not used: Fox, Campbell, Hylton, Maguire, Robinson.
