Laidlaw is delighted to return favour as preparation pays dividends

FOR the second time in four days, Kilmarnock found themselves in a spot of bother at Rugby Park. After they crashed out of the Betfred Cup in a quarter-final penalty shootout to Hibernian, there was a grim sense of inevitability when Osman Sow was handed the chance to win this dismal contest from 12 yards. When he passed up a glorious opportunity to score his first goal for Killie, however, it was as much to do with the visitors’ preparation as his own rather tame effort. Before kick-off, Ross County goalkeeping coach Scott Thomson had instructed Ross Laidlaw to go down to his left should he find himself facing a penalty from the Swede. Following those orders, he easily gathered the ball to earn a precious point for the Highlanders. Laidlaw explained: ‘Our goalie coach has wee cards he shows me before the game saying what every penalty taker is likely to do. ‘Eamonn Brophy was meant to be playing but big Sow came in and he had put his last two penalties to my left. Thankfully that’s where he hit it. I don’t think it was a great penalty but I went the right way.’ County should have had a penalty of their own early in the game when the

ball struck Killie’s Alex Bruce on the hand. After that, the hosts took control only for Laidlaw to make good saves to deny Bruce and Sow. Rory McKenzie should have opened the scoring for Angelo Alessio’s men before half-time but his fierce drive from 12 yards cannoned off the post. Sow’s penalty miss came on 65 minutes after Marcus Fraser brought down Liam Millar. Two weeks ago, Fraser’s late winner against St Mirren spared Laidlaw’s blushes after he let a tame free-kick from Tony Andreu squirm into the net. This time, he enjoyed being the hero for a change. ‘Some weeks the boys will pull you out of a hole and today I had a few saves,’ he smiled. ‘I wanted to bounce back straight away. I’ve had two good performances and shown a bit of character.’ A summer signing from Hibs, Laidlaw is desperate to remain County’s No 1 after a frustrating spell at Easter Road. ‘I’m grateful to Ross County for giving me the opportunity to play week in, week out,’ he added. ‘At Hibs, it was difficult as I was No 2 and then dropped out of contention after a bad injury. ‘I wanted a team where I knew there was a chance of playing. I’ve been given the chance here and I’m loving every minute. ‘I’ve done my time sitting on the bench, waiting for my chance. Now that I’ve got the No 1 jersey, I want to keep it.’ County should have won at the death when Josh Mullin sent over an enticing cross for fellow sub Brian Graham. Somehow the big striker headed over the bar. As for Killie, Alessio’s side have kept a clean sheet in six of their last seven matches. While hard to break down, scoring is a problem. With Brophy injured, Sow left Rugby Park in a moon boot after picking up an ankle knock. ‘It was frustrating,’ said McKenzie. ‘We played well in the first half and should have scored when I hit the post. We created a few chances but, in the second half, we weren’t good enough. ‘The missed penalty summed up our afternoon. Osman was all right after the game. He’s been willing to step up and take it and I’m sure he’ll score his next one. ‘But he’s picked up a bit of a knock and that’s all we need. We’ve only got two strikers, so we need to keep them fit.’

KILMARNOCK: (4-2-3-1) Branescu 6; O’Donnell 6, Bruce 6, Findlay 6, Hamalainen 6; Dicker 6, Power 6; Millar 7 (Thomas 78), El Makrini 6, McKenzie 6; Sow 5. Subs not used: Koprivec, Hendrie, Wilson, St Clair, Del Fabro, Burke.

Booked: None. ROSS COUNTY: (4-1-4-1): Laidlaw 7; Fraser 5, Watson 6, Grivosti 6, Foster 6; Chalmers 6; Stewart 6, Gardyne 6, Henderson 5 (Paton 56), Spittal 6 (Graham 66); Mckay 6 (Mullin 79). Subs not used: Ruddy, Erwin, Spence, Power. Booked: Gardyne, Fraser. Man of the match: Ross Laidlaw. Referee: Alan Newlands. Attendance: 4,906.