Ten-man County shock visitors

Ross County Motherwell

REGAN CHARLES-COOK’S second-half double enabled

10-man Ross County to put further distance between themselves and the relegation zone with a home win over Motherwell.

The cinch Premiership game burst into life on the cusp of half time when Sondre Solholm Johansen scored an own goal.

Motherwell came back strongly at the start of the second half, equalising through Jordan Roberts and seeing the hosts reduced to 10 men when Jordan Tillson was sent off. However, County were down but not out, and they roared back into life with Charles-Cook’s brace sealing victory.

Both teams showed signs of rustiness and the flow of play was disrupted with head knocks and injuries forcing several stoppages. The hosts came off the worse, with both Joe Hungbo and David Cancola needing to be replaced by Dominic Samuel and Tillson respectively.

The hosts broke the deadlock in first-half added-time. Charles-Cook showed his trickery on the left flank to twist past Bevis Mugabi and fire a low cross into the middle, where an off-balance Johansen skewed an attempted clearance into his own net.

The Steelmen came out for the second half on the front foot, and equalised 10 minutes after the re-start through Roberts, who picked out the top corner from 25 yards.

Things went from bad to worse for County minutes later, with Tillson shown a red card for a two-footed tackle on the goalscorer. However, they reclaimed the lead in the 73rd minute. Samuel won the ball back inside the visiting half before charging down the right and sending a cross, which was only half-cleared – allowing Charles-Cook to run on to it and strike past Liam Kelly. The hosts pulled further ahead when Charles-Cook saw a cross blocked by a hand and he scored the subsequent penalty.