PACKING A PUNCH
Samuel and Staggies show they’re up for drop fight
Alex Samuel put his injury hell behind him with a header to seal a crucial three points for Ross County in the relegation fight.
Adding to Alex Iacovitti ’s first-half header for the Staggies, the 27-year-old’s joy was evident and understandable as he made sure the bottom- of- the- table Highlanders moved back to within a point of Dundee United and Kilmarnock.
Samuel shattered his knee in training in February last year and faced an agonising period of recovery and rehabilitation.
In more than 18 months at the club he has started only four games – none so far this season – but manager Malky Mackay’s faith was repaid by his clinical header 16 minutes into the second half and just four minutes after coming on.
Delighted Mackay said: “I thought the first half was nip and tuck. The little moment of quality in the first half was Yan Dhanda’s delivery.
“It means we nicked one and went 1- 0 up at the break, which settles the nerves.
“I spoke to them about Livingston’s react ion and having to come out really on the front foot because they are a good team.
“We knew if we didn’t up the tempo in the second half we would have a problem. To a man, I thought they did.
“I was really delighted with the way the substitutes came on and impacted the game.
“Josh Stones and particularly Alex Samuel have had to bide their time.
“They are both boys who are low maintenance that work hard at training every day, for no reward on a Saturday at times.
“They are cheerleaders for others, which makes a big difference. That being the case, for them to come on and impact the game in the way they did, I’m delighted for them.
“Alex scores and I’m so happy because he has been out for a year with a torn cruciate. The two of them had a terrif ic impact against their defenders.
“I’m not singling people out, it was a rea l ly good team performance here today.
“As far as we’re concerned, we just have to concentrate on what’s in front of us.
“But it brings us back into the pack and now we look to the next one we play, which is Dundee United at Tannadice.”
The Staggies knew they couldn’t afford another defeat as they chased only their fourth win of 2023.
Despite safety from the drop, Livingston displayed plenty of competitiveness from the outset and hemmed Ross County into their own half for a full 20 minutes.
The Staggies settled and, after a neat build-up, Dhanda whipped in a superb diagonal ball that had Simon Murray leaping to head goalward at the far post.
Nicky Devlin did enough to knock it away from the County striker via the post but took a bash to the head for his trouble.
Just a couple of minutes later, Dhanda’s next delivery created the opener.
The former Swansea City midfielder picked out Iacovitti with pin- point accuracy and, completely unmarked, his team-mate slammed home a brilliant 12-yard header.
County made a triple substitution before the hour and, from a Dhanda corner, substitute Stones re-directed the ball just wide of goal.
Then came a magical moment for another of the substitutes.
With 61 minutes gone, Dhanda’s craft was evident again with a lovely curled cross that found Samuel rising to angle a header home.
Having spent a year recovering from a cruciate injury and regaining fitness, it was a sweet moment for the Welshman – and his first goal for the Staggies.
County kept pressing for a killer third, with substitute Kurtis Guthrie – initially booked – taking a VAR-assisted red card for a blatant elbow in the face of Keith Watson.
Stephen Kelly hit the post late on for Livingston after keeper Ross Laidlaw misjudged a cross but there was no way back for the Lions who stay seventh.