Ross County rediscover scoring boots as late flurry sees spoils shared with Motherwell in 3-3 draw
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Motherwell 3 (Biereth, Wilkinson, L Ross)
Ross County 3 (Brophy, Murray, Loturi)
While goals have been hard to come by in recent matches for Ross County, they showed they have not lost their scoring boots away at Motherwell – but were held to a 3-3 draw.
All the goals came in the last half-hour, with striking duo Eamonn Brophy and Simon Murray each finding the back of the net from the edge of the box.
Motherwell pulled one back from the penalty spot through Mika Biereth, and further goals from Victor Loturi and Conor Wilkinson would keep the deficit at a single goal.
That set up a tense end to the match for County as their hosts pushed for an equaliser, with Luca Ross turning home from close-range in stoppage time to earn Motherwell a share of the points.
A change of formation for the Staggies saw Malky Mackay field a 4-2-2-2 – with Scott Allardice one of three changes as the former Caley Thistle man made his first league start for the club.
Perhaps the switch caught their hosts by surprise, because it was County who started the more brightly of the two sides.
First Eamonn Brophy was at full stretch to reach Connor Randall's low ball across the face of goal, only just missing out, before Jack Baldwin headed a short corner back into the middle for central defensive partner Ryan Leak to glance wide of the mark from close range.
It was certainly from wide areas that the Staggies were enjoying themselves, as Baldwin and Brophy each missed the target with headers, but with none of those chances taken it gave Motherwell the opportunity to grow into the game.
The Steelmen fired a warning shot when Brodie Spencer hit the post with a header of his own midway through the first half, and Jack Brown was needed to make an important block when Spencer charged into the visiting box.
The run up to half time was peppered with VAR checks – although none of them took up much time.
There were checks over whether Yan Dhanda should have given away a penalty for clipping former County man Blair Spittal, whether Victor Loturi should have been sent off and whether Brophy should have won a spot kick of his own, but on each occasion Graham Grainger's original decision was upheld, and none of them were given.
Both teams seemed to be feeling each other out again on the restart, but just before the hour mark Allardice went a whisker away with a curling effort from the edge of the box.
Kyle Turner proved to be a lively presence after replacing Yan Dhanda at the break, and his eyes must have lit up when the ball fell to him in space inside the Motherwell area.
Admittedly on his weaker foot, Turner's shot was then helped on at close-range by Murray – who may have been in an offside position – before Kelly just about managed to gather the ball in.
While County were frustrated in their efforts to break the deadlock when on top of the game in the first half, Brophy ensured there would be no repeat of that when he picked out the top corner in the 65th minute to put County 1-0 ahead.
Simon Murray would double their advantage with what would turn out to be his last touch of the game before being substituted, curling an effort into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
There would soon be a third goal in quick succession.
With a little over 10 minutes left on the clock Mika Biereth raced on to a great pass in behind the County defence, beating Ross Laidlaw to it and getting taken down by the goalkeeper.
Biereth then stepped up to take the spot kick himself, and sent Laidlaw the wrong way to cut the deficit in half and set up a blockbuster final stage to the match.
Alex Samuel had a good chance to restore a two-goal lead for the visitors. He had initially done brilliantly to chest the ball to Loturi, who then headed him in behind the defence only for Samuel's volley to go the wrong side of the post.
That combination would be reversed immediately afterwards, as the Staggies did go 3-1 up in the 83rd minute.
Laidlaw's long ball forward was flicked on by Jordan White to Samuel, who slipped Loturi into the box. His first shot was parried away by Liam Kelly, but the Canadian international reacted fastest to pounce on the rebound and seemingly all but end any doubt of where the points would be going.
There would be more twists in the tale though. Conor Wilkinson was allowed far too much space in the final third considering the Staggies were two goals to the good, and made sure to punish the visitors by slotting past Laidlaw to make it 3-2.
That set up a nervy finish to the match as Motherwell pushed hard for an equaliser to have something to show for their effort – and in the seven minutes of added time Luca Ross turned home from close-range to make it 3-3.
It was Motherwell pushing for a winner, backed by their own fans, but some important last-ditch defending from George Harmon ensured that County would take a point back up to Dingwall.
Motherwell: Kelly, O'Donnell (Biereth 74), Mugabi, Spittal, Slattery, Paton, Bair (Wilkinson 61), Casey, McGinn, Shaw (L Ross 87), Spencer (Gent 74).
Subs not used: Oxborough, Zdravkovski, Blaney, M Ross, Butcher.
Ross County: Laidlaw, Randall (Smith 89), Brown, Baldwin, Allardice (High 74), Dhanda (Turner 46), Loturi, Murray (White 74), Harmon, Brophy (Samuel 74), Leak.
Subs not used: Munro, Purrington, Sheaf.
Referee: Graham Grainger
VAR: Nick Walsh
Attendance: 5119 (164 away)
