COUNTY DISMISS KETTLEWELL AT FULL-TIME

STUART KETTLEWELL refused to criticise Roy MacGregor after the Ross County chairman wielded the axe minutes after yesterday’s 2-0 home defeat to Hamilton.

The result deepened the County crisis after they slipped four points adrift of their relegation rivals following eight losses in their last 10 Premiership matches.

But despite having been given only six months to prove himself in sole charge, Kettlewell made a dignified exit from the Global Energy Stadium after being told by MacGregor that he was being ‘relieved of his duties’.

Kettlewell admitted: ‘It’s a sore one, of course it is. I want to fight, scrap and do the best I possibly can for the football club and I have done that for a long time.

‘But we find ourselves bottom of the table and cut adrift a bit off the back of this result and I understand football.

‘There is no ill-feeling from me towards the football club or to the chairman. Everybody knows I’ve got a brilliant relationship with the chairman and

everybody here. That is the situation and I’m thankful to have been given the opportunity.

‘It’s a bad day for me personally, and for the football club, and I genuinely wish them every success moving forward.’

Kettlewell, 36, was appointed sole manager in June, having been co-manager with Steven Ferguson since March 2018.

But despite making a promising start to the season with wins over Motherwell and Hamilton, the Staggies have struggled.

They have won only once in the league since then — away to St Johnstone in September — and failed to kick on after ending Celtic’s 35-match unbeaten domestic cup run with a two-goal Betfred Cup triumph at Parkhead last month.

Confirming that Kettlewell had been relieved of his duties in a tweet posted less than half-anhour after the match, the club insisted: ‘Stuart was an ideal appointment given his history and association with the club and we will support him in the coming weeks.’