A great three points – Don Cowie thrilled with Ross County win over Motherwell

Ross County manager Don Cowie was delighted with what he called a “great three points” against Motherwell.

The Staggies had a blistering start to the second half to go two goals ahead courtesy of Ronan Hale and Josh Nisbet and with the visitors only able to respond late on through Zach Robinson the points remained in Dingwall.

It was a first win in almost a month for County, who sat seventh in the table when the final whistle was blown in the Highlands.

That late concession did mean a nervy end to the match for Cowie and his coaching staff, particularly when 10 minutes of stoppage time were added on, but that was the only criticism he could find of the performance.

“It’s a great three points,” he said.

“Motherwell have been excellent so far this season, but we always have belief here in Dingwall.

“It was a very even game in the first half and then in the first half hour of the second half we were excellent and were deservedly in front.

“We could have got more than the two goals and I was really disappointed to concede because we had been really solid throughout the game.

“We had different personnel on the pitch but we still have to defend that free kick. That makes it nervy when it didn’t need to be, but we still got the three points.”

On the other hand, Cowie’s opposite number at Motherwell Stuart Kettlewell was disappointed that his players seemed to put in an uncharacteristic second-half shift.

“We were pretty comfortable in the first half, albeit we could have fashioned more chances,” he commented.

“The message at half time was to look for more risky passes and openings in their final third, but we didn’t quite execute that.

“The start of the second half irks me and it became a bit farcical with the stop-start nature of it.

“County scored two good goals but we end up back at our goalkeeper when we could have asked questions of them.

“We spent 15 minutes at half time talking about trying to get beyond their press and we do exactly that but then refuse to do it in their final third.

“That makes it a little bit of a lottery. Their second goal is a bit of quality but we still need to deal with that bouncing ball and we don’t.

“We then become un-Motherwell like and that is our own doing by refusing positive passes and not trying to create chances.”