Staggies stun Dons with four-goal salvo
Thrilled John Hughes dedicated Ross County’s stunning win to chairman Roy Macgregor and the staff who have warmly welcomed him to Dingwall.
The Staggies hoisted themselves off the bottom of the table with a 4-1 trouncing of Aberdeen.
It was their first home triumph in the league since the opening day of the season – more than five months ago.
Oli Shaw’s lethal double and further goals from Charlie Lakin and Jermaine Hylton sealed the game for County.
Hughes said: “Since I’ve come to the club – and I’m not patronising anyone here – I’ve been made very welcome.
“I’ve seen what it means to a lot of people and I’ve seen what it means to my chairman.
“He’s in there pushing, every day, saying ‘what do you need?’ or ‘how can I help?’ So it is about time I dedicated this victory to him.
“Getting off to a fantastic start certainly helped us – and that’s something we’ve been looking for.
“But I have said we need to make this a fortress and start picking up results.
“Tactically, I felt we got it spot on, with the three attackers, who had plenty pace in them.”
Two-goal striker Shaw was a stand-out and Hughes added: “We’re asking him to do something that’s a little bit alien. Ideally, he needs a partner up there with him.
“It’s the same with Billy Mckay. If you give him a partner with physical presence up there, these guys thrive.
“In the meantime, it is all hands on deck so Oli’s up there on his own.”
In wind and icy rain, County made a sublime start.
Iain Vigurs found Jermaine Hylton to the left of the box and the wide man worked it into the danger area for Shaw.
The ex-hibs man placed a cool first-time strike from 15 yards into the bottom-left corner of the net with only 36 seconds on the watch.
Aberdeen enjoyed some pressure in the aftermath, but a low Sam Cosgrove attempt from distance after 16 minutes was their first on target, and easily dealt with by home keeper Ross Laidlaw.
Four minutes later, the hosts were two ahead. The home side’s build-up play was slick and there was far too much space granted by the Dons as Paton’s cross from the right found Charlie Lakin in the box unchallenged.
The midfielder had plenty of time to take a touch and fire a low drive past Joe Lewis from a 10-yard angle.
The Dons’ troubles were mounting on the half-hour as injured Ash Taylor was taken off for Shay Logan, with Ross Mccrorie also exiting with a bad injury much later on.
But County’s hopes of carrying a two-goal cushion into the break were dashed in first-half stoppage time.
From Jonny Hayes’ corner, Thomas Hoban hammered a header goalward from inside just a few yards inside the home penalty area.
It went down as an owngoal for Alex Iacovitti after his desperate touch accidentally deceived the keeper.
The killer third came for County with six minutes left.
Vigurs swung a long corner across from the right and, on the far side of the box, substitute Ross Draper thumped a powerful header back across.
It fell perfectly for Shaw, who swept the ball home with ease from seven yards.
The Dons’ late collapse continued as Jermaine Hylton tore on to a long ball and forced his way past slipping keeper Joe Lewis. He was left with the simple task of rolling the ball into an empty net.