Ross County 0
Rangers 4
League (Premiership)


Ross County
0 - 4
Rangers 

League (Premiership)
Sunday, December 6th, 2020
Global Energy Stadium, Dingwall. Att. 300
12:00 PM Kick-off

Goalscorers
None. Kemar Roofe (28)
James Tavernier (56)
Callum Morris og (72)
Jermain Defoe (90)

Team Managers
Stuart Kettlewell
Steven Gerrard

Starting Eleven
1. Ross Laidlaw
25. Coll Donaldson
43. Josh Reid
15. Keith Watson
5. Callum Morris
16. Alex Iacovitti
22. Jordan Tillson
24. Harry Paton
11. Iain Vigurs
7. Michael Gardyne
27. Ross Stewart
1 Allan McGregor
2 James Tavernier
3 Calvin Bassey
6 Connor Goldson
26 Leon Balogun
10 Steven Davis
17 Joe Aribo
18 Glen Kamara
14 Ryan Kent
20 Alfredo Morelos
25 Kemar Roofe

Bench
21. Ross Doohan
46. Ben Williamson
2. Connor Randall
17. Regan Charles-Cook
9. Billy Mckay
44. Matthew Wright
14. Jermaine Hylton
7 Ianis Hagi
9 Jermain Defoe
11 Cedric Itten
15 Bongani Zungu
16 Nathan Patterson
21 Brandon Barker
31 Borna Barisic
33 Jon McLaughlin
37 Scott Arfield

Substitutions
Connor Randall for Keith Watson (45)
Regan Charles-Cook for Josh Reid (72)
Jermaine Hylton for Michael Gardyne (80)
Matthew Wright for Jordan Tillson (86)
Scott Arfield for Joe Aribo (66)
Jermain Defoe for Alfredo Morelos (74)
Bongani Zungu for Glen Kamara (74)
Ianis Hagi for Ryan Kent (75)
Cledric Itten for Kemar Roofe (75)

Cautions
Iain Vigurs (45)
Michael Gardyne (45)
Harry Paton (60)
Alex Iacovitti (77)
None.

Red Cards
None. None.
Match Officials

John Beaton (Referee)
Dougie Potter & Sean Carr (Assistants)
Grant Irvine (Fourth Official)




Match Report


Source unknown.

Steven Gerrard’s league-leading Rangers side ran out 4-0 victors at the Global Energy Stadium.

Kemar Roofe opened the scoring for the visitors after Harry Paton nearly gave County the lead inside the first half hour.

Second-half goals from James Tavernier, Jermaine Defoe and an own goal from Callum Morris completed the scoring as Rangers extend their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership to 14 points.

In the 24th minute, it was the County who offered the first opportunity in a previously tense & tight affair. Vigurs’ excellent cross-field ball with his left foot found Harry Paton in an encouraging area on the right-hand side of the box. The midfielder drifted inside of Balogun and stung a left-footed effort at McGregor. The veteran goalkeeper, as he so often does, produced an expert save to bat the ball away from danger as his side avoided an early scare.

Shortly after, the visitors broke the deadlock as Steven Davis’ incisive through ball found James Tavernier marauding down the right wing. The Rangers skipper whizzed a trademark low cross across the face of the box, meeting the sliding effort of Kemar Roofe, who diverted the ball into the net from 6 yards out.

Just a minute later, Rangers nearly doubled their advantage as Morelos spun inside of Morris and slid a reverse pass into the direction of Kent. His pass was intercepted by Donaldson, but the ball broke to the goal scorer Roofe as the striker’s snapshot effort braised the top of Ross Laidlaw’s goal.

Rangers entered the break with a single-goal lead. However, as Harry Paton teased in the 24th minute, the home side were showing signs of the attacking quality required to carve open the opposing rear guard.

Just 4 minutes into the second half, Ryan Kent’s combination pace and trickery allowed him to beat Stewart and Randall as the winger advanced down the left side. He hung up a left footed cross to the back post and picked out Roofe who had his headed effort denied by Laidlaw in goal. Alfredo Morelos followed up, but the Colombian’s attempt was blocked and subsequently cleared by Morris.

In the 55th minute, the league leaders grabbed the crucial second goal of the match through their captain, James Tavernier. A Morelos shot was deflected into the path of Ryan Kent as he flashed a low-left footed cross across the box. Kent’s cross was met by Roofe, who looked to repeat his opener with a sliding effort. His attempt was cut out by Josh Reid, but the defender’s intervention ricocheted off Tavernier and trickled into the goal for his 16th of the season.

County almost clawed one back as Reid’s deep cross from the left evaded 3 Rangers defenders and landed at the feet of Connor Randall at the back post. Looking destined to score, Randall unfortunately leant over Reid’s bouncing cross and blazed his attempt from inside the six-yard box well over the roof of the Jail End stand.

With 18 minutes to go, Tavernier was involved again as his side added a third. Connor Goldson’s measured pass out from defence cut the County defence open and found Tavernier rampaging down the right-hand side again. The Rangers Captain’s whisked cross was turned in by Callum Morris as his skewed interception put the ball into his own goal.

Veteran striker Jermaine Defoe sealed the victory for the Ibrox side in the final minute of regulation time. Cedric Itten picked the pocket of Coll Donaldson as the defender was backed into County’s right corner. The Swiss international then squared the ball to Defoe who perfectly pirouetted around Iacovitti inside the box and fired his shot through the legs of Ross Laidlaw.

*Match report courtesy of Ross County Football Club*.



Squad Statistics (as at December 6th, 2020)


2020/21 All Time
Age
Ross Laidlaw (GK)28 16 - 38 -
Josh Reid18 18 - 18 -
Coll Donaldson25 201281
Alex Iacovitti23 212212
Callum Morris30 6 - 441
Keith Watson31 9 - 653
Jordan Tillson27 18 - 26 -
Michael Gardyne34 17 - 42671
Iain Vigurs32 16121928
Harry Paton22 191493
Ross Stewart24 2067828
Connor Randall (sub)25 13 - 13 -
Regan Charles-Cook (sub)23 192192
Jermaine Hylton (sub)27 8 - 8 -
Matthew Wright (sub)18 2 - 2 -






League Table (as at December 6th, 2020)


No league table has been added for this season.