Noah Chilvers’ quality key to Ross County fightback

Don Cowie hailed the quality of Noah Chilvers after the attacking midfielder’s deliveries led to Ross County coming from behind to defeat Kilmarnock 2-1.

The visitors had taken the lead through Corrie Ndaba shortly before half-time but a red card for Liam Donnelly on the hour mark turned the game on its head.

Chilvers sent the resulting free-kick into the box which led to Jordan White’s equaliser before his corner was turned into his own net by Joe Wright for the winning goal.

“I spoke to the group prior to the game about fighting your corner against Kilmarnock,” said Cowie.

“They make it difficult for you and for the first half-hour we did the basics really well. We came off it slightly for 10 minutes and that’s where we got punished.

“In the second half it was about having a bit more intent and threat, and the sending-off has a bearing on that but we earned that with Noah Chilvers turning and running away from his opponent.

“He’s a real quality player. He would be slightly frustrated in terms of hitting the target with a couple of attempts, but it’s his two deliveries that get us our goals.

“He was a little bit behind the group in the summer, but we’ve got a lot of belief of what he can do in this league. He needs to have that belief in himself.

“His qualities are different to the other attacking midfielders we have and it’s about him showing that on a consistent basis.”

Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes, meanwhile, was left unhappy by the performance of referee Matthew MacDermid, who he felt could have dealt with Donnelly’s two bookings differently and sent off County midfielder Connor Randall. Wright was also initially shown a red card before the VAR downgraded it to yellow.

“Connor Randall had a two-footed challenge against David Watson,” McInnes stressed.

“The first booking for Donnelly is poor, and you don’t always see those being given a yellow card.

“I think the second one is harsh – he does everything he can not to pull the boy back.

“The Randall challenge is worse than the one Brad Lyons got sent off for at Pittodrie, so we’ve got to look at ourselves but we’ve been harshly dealt with.

“I don’t know how they think Joe Wright’s challenge at the end is a red, but thankfully the right decision is made in the end.”