42

Victoria Park

Saturday 6^th September 2025

It’s not been the best of years for Ross County. Back in February, whilst still a Premiership club, they appointed Don Cowie as their new manager. He was the hometown hero who had made 194 appearances for the club across spells at the beginning and end of his career and the person that everyone at the club desperately wanted to see succeed.

Unfortunately a widely shared video that shows him saying ‘disappointed’ or ‘disappointing’ in 24 separate post-match press conferences gives some indication of how his tenure went. The club lost eight and won just one of their last 11 games of the 2024/25 season and ended up in 11th place facing a playoff against a Championship side to keep their place in the Premiership.

That playoff ended up being against Livingston. The first leg was down in West Lothian and a 1 – 1 draw meant that Ross County returned to the Highlands as favourites to seal victory. After 24 minutes of the second leg County were 2 – 0 to the good and looked to be cruising but they shipped four goals over the next hour and were faced with Championship football for the first time since 2018/19.

Most people expected Cowie to be replaced over the summer but the club showed faith and Ross County started this season with him still in charge. However a string of poor results in both the league and the Challenge Cup saw him leaving by mutual consent in August with a feeling that Ross County, at that point bottom of the league, were on the back foot and a long way away from their expected position as promotion contenders.

I was expecting to see a managerless side given how recently Cowie had departed but in the week before the game County announced that they had appointed Tony Docherty. Docherty was most recently the manager of Dundee who had also flirted with relegation last season (finishing just four points above Ross County) before he was sacked in June. Given Dundee’s performance you could forgive a degree of scepticism from the Ross County fans but Docherty likes to encourage an open, attacking style of play which saw Dundee score the fourth most goals in the division despite finishing tenth. As a result his appointment was widely praised and welcomed. That fact, and the famed ‘new manager bounce’, had me feeling optimistic that I would get to see an entertaining game.

Initially I thought that I would get the train across to Dingwall. Unfortunately when looking at timings I discovered that Scottish Rail hold back the trains after the final whistle of Ross County games so the first train to leave after the game wouldn’t get me back until around 2230 so I decided the 2h30 drive was a much better idea.

I had identified today as an opportunity to see Ross County for a few reasons. Firstly, because of the international break options for league games were extremely limited with only Dingwall and Greenock options for the day. Secondly, I was keen to tick of the more northern clubs either early or late in the season to avoid weather having an unwanted effect. Luckily the forecast was for a bright and relatively warm day meaning that the drive should be reasonably problem-free and there was no chance of the game being called off at short notice.

The journey northwest was lengthy but uneventful with a string of podcasts to keep me distracted on the drive up. As I approached Inverness I spotted the bus carrying the Brora Rangers team to what I later discovered was a Highland League fixture away to Keith. I crossed the Kessock Bridge for the first time and enjoyed the views of the Black Isle before arriving in Dingwall in good time.

I walked through the town and got my first glimpse of the stadium as I crossed the bridge over the railway. A funny quirk of the ground is that it can actually hold the entire population of the town with room to spare. Its capacity of 6,541 is over 1,000 more than than the population of Dingwall at the last census. It’s also known for having a sign that (due to some poor editing) encourages fairly questionable behaviour. It looked to be a nice little ground though, one that was well looked after and seemed to offer great views of the game regardless of where you chose to sit.

I had opted for a seat in the East Stand following a recommendation from a former Dingwall resident (and Ross County fan) at the wedding I attended the day after Raith Rovers vs Dunfermline Athletic. I was sat four rows back and level with the halfway line and was very happy with my choice as I found my spot prior to the game. I spent half an hour watching the players warm-up, spotted a coastguard helicopter and two red kites hovering above the ground, and looked out towards Ben Wyvis behind the main stand. I was even treated to a thumbs up from Rossco the Stag!

Arbroath got the game started and immediately looked the more confident side. A decent effort on target from Findlay Marshall led to the first corner of the game and a period of sustained pressure for the visitors. Ross County were struggling to clear their lines and repeatedly handed possession back to Arbroath and in the process piled pressure on themselves.

It was 15 minutes into the game before they started to pose any threat going forwards. Gary Mackay-Steven was their preferred creative outlet (although he looked a little shackled playing wing-back rather than being allowed to stay further forward) and he won County’s first corner of the game. One led to two which eventually led to five all of which caused problems for Arbroath but they stood firm and County’s pressure went unrewarded.

On 31′ Jordan White lost control during an attack and Arbroath quickly swept the ball forwards. A series of accurate passes cut the Ross County defence apart and the ball eventually reached Craig Watson wide on the right. A dangerous cross into the six yard box was met by Nikolay Todorov who had the easiest of jobs nodding the ball past Ross Laidlaw to give Arbroath a well deserved lead.

There were no other chances of note in the first half as Ross County seemed to look long every time they had possession but the balls forward were inaccurate and easy to defend. They looked like what they were, a team languishing towards the bottom of the table with a new manager who hasn’t had enough time to impose his ideas on the players yet. Their overall performance in the half could probably be summed up by the following Simpsons gif…

Arbroath on the other hand looked well coached. They were almost always first to any loose balls, they had players in the right positions to offer teammates an option when they had the ball and they were mixing up their attacks to make sure that the opposition were never sure what was coming. They looked like they would be tough to beat.

Docherty had clearly had words with his players during the break as Ross County came out looking like a different side. Within a minute a shot from Connor Randall resulted in a corner for County and from the set piece Akil Wright saw a strong header hit the bar and go over.

County kept coming although the final ball was still often lacking. Their fortune changed however on 58′ when a shot hit Watson’s hand in the area and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Kieran Phillips stepped up and sent McAdams the wrong way to level the game.

The goal seemed to give Ross County the confidence they needed to believe that they could win the game. On 74′ they put together their best move of the day with a series of passes reminiscent of what Arbroath had managed in the lead up to their goal. Unfortunately the cross was pulled back to James Scott and his effort looked more like a rugby conversion than a shot on goal.

Another corner for County was headed back across goal before falling to Alex Iacovitti. His shot from close range looked destined for the top right corner before an almost unbelievable save from McAdams. County also managed to put the ball in the back of the net twice in the final ten minutes but both were ruled out by the linesman’s flag, the first for offside and the second as a corner had gone out of play on its way into the box.

All this pressure meant that Ross County looked the more likely team to find a win but the football gods love situations like this. On 89′ Arbroath raced forward taking advantage of the space left by County’s all-out attacks. Jacob MacIntyre took the ball into the box and looked ready to unleash his shot when he was brought down by Declan Gallagher. It was another clear penalty and gave Arbroath a chance to snatch all three points. Laidlaw went the right way but Aaron Muirhead’s shot was well placed in the bottom corner and he and his teammates celebrated in front of the travelling fans.

County had no response in the remaining few minutes and Arbroath secured a good away win. Ross County’s second half display will probably have pleased Docherty and showed that there is probably the bones of a good team somewhere in his squad. They were clearly lacking some creativity and prowess up front and it would have been interesting to see what they looked like if Ronan Hale (their current top scorer who was away on international duty with Northern Ireland) had been playing. Arbroath looked excellent though. I’d be surprised if their fans were anything other than delighted with both the performance and the result and I suspect they’ll surprise a few more teams as the season goes on.

The drive back through to Aberdeen felt much shorter than the drive out, probably helped by the thought of roast chicken and profiteroles when I got back. I also passed the Brora Rangers bus again as they headed home from a 0 – 5 win in their game with Keith. That result puts them three points clear at the top of the Highland League. They’ve been knocking on the door of the SPFL for a few years now and it seems like only a matter of time until they win promotion. If I thought today’s trip was a long drive then heaven help me when I have to visit Brora….

The Facts

• Ground
  • Victoria Park
• Home
  • Ross County
• Away
  • Arbroath
• Competition
  • Scottish Championship
• Result
  • 1 – 2
• Scorers
  • Kieran Phillips | Nikolay Todorov, Aaron Muirhead
• Attendance
  • 2,792
• Cost
  • £24
• Total distance travelled
  • 230 miles
• Transport
  • Car
• My MotM
  • Akil Wright, to be honest most of the best performances came from Arbroath and you’d have had a job choosing between McAdams, O’Brien, Dow, and Todorov. I’ve been deliberately choosing home team players though and Wright was the player that stood out to me. He looked solid playing on the right of a back three and very little got past him. He also ventured forward both supporting breaks and posing a threat at corners including a headed effort that hit the crossbar.