Ross County

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Twenty-six decisions since the start of the Premiership season have been deemed incorrect by the Scottish FA's VAR independent review panel.

The tally, based on incidents requested by the panel or submitted for consideration, is a rise of 10 since February's last meeting of the group.

Not among the incidents included was one where Hibernian claimed the Scottish FA agreed an error had been made.

The governing body later disputed that assertion, made after Hibs were not awarded a penalty after Aberdeen's Nicky Devlin handled in February's 2-2 draw.

The 10 incorrect decisions shared with Premiership clubs on Wednesday were:

Rangers 2-1 Aberdeen (6/02/24): VAR intervention was correct, but final outcome should have been yellow card to Rangers' Dujon Sterling. Referee retained his on-field decision of a red card.

St Mirren 2-0 Dundee (7/02/24): VAR intervention was correct, but final outcome should have been yellow card to St Mirren's James Bolton. Referee retained his on-field decision of a red card.

Ross County 1-1 St Mirren (27/2/24): VAR should have recommended an on-field review. Final outcome should have been penalty awarded against Ross County for handball.

Hearts 1-1 Hibernian (28/2/24): VAR intervention correct, but penalty decision, which led to Hearts' equaliser, should have been overturned - no foul and no penalty should have been awarded.

Kilmarnock 1-2 Rangers (28/2/24): VAR should have recommended an on-field review. Final outcome should have been penalty decision, which led to Kilmarnock opening the scoring, overturned - no handball offense against Rangers.

Hearts 2-0 Celtic (3/3/24): VAR should have recommended an on-field review. Penalty decision should have been overturned - no foul and no penalty should have been awarded to Celtic.

Hearts 2-0 Celtic (3/3/24): On-field decision correct, no penalty to Hearts. Handball should not have been awarded for spot-kick that led to opening goal.

Motherwell 0-1 Aberdeen (16/04/24): VAR should have recommended an on-field review. Penalty to Motherwell should have been awarded for handball.

Hibernian 1-2 St Johnstone (6/4/24): VAR should have recommended an on-field review. Penalty should have been awarded to Hibs for foul by St Johnstone goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov.

St Mirren 1-2 Hearts (6/4/24): VAR intervention correct, but penalty should have been awarded to St Mirren for a foul on Conor McMenamin by Aidan Denholm.

It now looks a straight fight between St Johnstone and Ross County for the relegation play-off place.

It’s difficult to predict, but from what I’ve seen of County, they have a bit about them. They have a goal threat, they’ve got patterns of play, and Don Cowie has done an unbelievable job to turn around what was a toxic environment when Derek Adams walked out.

There’s a bit of positivity at County – even after the weekend defeat by Livingston – but I’m not sure the same can be said for St Johnstone.

The style of football under Craig Levein is dire. It inspires no positivity and is inherently negative. It might get the odd result here and there, but do folk want to be involved in that?

It’s worrying times for St Johnstone. Their form is not great at all, I don’t see a massive goal threat, and three of their last four games are away, whereas County have three at home.

County’s only away game is at McDiarmid Park – that’s a huge one.

Michael Stewart was speaking to BBC Sport Scotland's Martin Watt

Amadou Bakayoko, the striker on loan to Dundee, and midfielder Teddy Jenks, who is with Ross County, are being retained by Forest Green Rovers next season along with former St Mirren midfielder Kyle McAllister, former Rangers youth Charlie McCann, one-time Dundee United left-back Jamie Robson and ex-Hibernian striker Christian Doidge after their relegation from League Two. (The Courier), external

Read Wednesday's Scottish Gossip in full here.

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Don Cowie says his Ross County side must "take real belief" from their recent home form if they are to guarantee top-flight survival.

The Highlanders have been poor on the road this term and that was compounded on Saturday with defeat at bottom-side Livingston.

But County have not suffered a loss in Dingwall since February, winning three and drawing two of their last five - including recent victories against Hearts and Rangers.

Three of County's final four games are at home, starting with the weekend visit of Hibernian, who have won just one their three encounters with the Highland club this term.

"We're really happy with the form at home, but now it's about maintaining it," said Cowie, whose side remain a point adrift of guaranteed safety.

"We're on the back of six points out of six against Rangers and Hearts. We'll need to be really good to add to that against Hibs.

"But we believe in ourselves - and when we're at home we've got every opportunity to do that."

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Don Cowie has been speaking to the media before his Ross County side welcome Hibernian on Saturday.

Here are the key lines:

• Cowie reiterated his disappointment at the result and performance at Livingston on Saturday, but he says his side "won't dwell on it" and now have "full focus" on Hibs.

• The County boss says Hibs "will bring a real challenge" and have a "very good team with a lot of very good attacking players".

• He added that Hibs' performance in their win at St Johnstone showed "they still have a lot to play for".

• Cowie hopes the Dingwall crowd can continue to have a positive influence on his side, saying "they’ve been great the last two months, we’ll need that over the next three home games".

• George Wickens and Will Nightingale are available to return.

Ross Morren
Fan writer

Ross County fans have experienced the highest of highs and lowest of lows in their last two matches.

The Staggies received plenty of plaudits in the aftermath of their 3-2 win over Rangers two weeks ago. They looked dangerous going forward, solid defensively and outfought the Glasgow side all over the park in what was labelled as County’s best 90-minute performance since Don Cowie was appointed interim manager.

The question among County fans travelling down to West Lothian on Saturday was if their side could match those performance levels against a Livingston side 12 points adrift at the bottom of the table.

Unfortunately, the answer was no.

From the start of the match, the Staggies looked like a shadow of the side which put one of the title contenders to the sword last time out. This time, it was County who were being outfought all over the park as Livingston didn’t give them any time to settle into the match.

Since Cowie’s appointment back in February, he’s often reiterated the need to cut out lapses in concentration and individual mistakes defensively which have put the Staggies on the back foot in matches and cost them potential points away from home. The opening goal came from yet another defensive mistake.

County failed to respond after that early blow and things were only going to get worse. They huffed and puffed in the final stages of the match and tested Shamal George on a few occasions but it was too little, too late.

Livingston comfortably saw out the remainder of the match to cut the gap and send the County fans home bitterly disappointed. It emphasised how quickly football can change.

Saturday’s defeat made it 16 away league matches without a win, with seven defeats in a row. One of the few positives from Saturday is three of County’s four remaining matches this season are in Dingwall, where the Staggies have gone five matches unbeaten under Cowie.

Based on the recent performances and results, the players will believe they can pick up points against any team travelling to the Highlands, starting with Hibernian on Saturday.

Ross Morren can be found on The County Corner., external

Watch all the action from West Lothian as Livingston bagged their first win since February. (Available to UK users only).

We asked for your thoughts on Ross County's 2-0 defeat at Livingston on Saturday.

Here is what some of you said:

David: This was an opportunity missed. We were second to the ball, timid in approach most of the time and lacking in confidence. While we might blame the pitch and referee for not giving us a break, the fact is that Livingston wanted it more, they were aggressive from the start, pressuring County in possession and not backing down.

Alistair: I am not confident this County team are able to secure the relegation play-off place. Even if they can hold Livingston off, they will struggle against any of the Championship teams currently in the running to meet them. If that is the case, I hope ICT will still be there waiting for us and we get to resume the much-missed Highland derby.

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• Bruce Anderson has scored six goals this season (one in this game), more than any other Livingston player in the Scottish Premiership.

• Ross County have failed to score in 17 of their 34 games, no team has failed to do so more often in the Premiership this season.

• Livingston have beaten Ross County for the first time in the Premiership since 18 March 2023, a run of four games without a win.

Ross County interim manager Don Cowie: "Credit to Livingston, I thought they played really well. We got a lot of plaudits two weeks ago for the performance against Rangers and the criticism we get on the back of this performance we deserve as well.

"We gifted them their first goal. We had a few moments here there but, over the piece, we can have few complaints and Livingston thoroughly deserved to win."

Were you at Ross County's 2-0 defeat at Livingston or following the match from home? Either way, we want your views on the game – have your say here.

Livingston's top-flight status remains under severe threat but this performance was much more reminiscent of the side that was promoted in 2018 and proceeded to hold their own under Gary Holt and Martindale.

Their defence was resolute, their forwards a nuisance to the opposition, and their overall battling qualities ensured just a fourth league victory of the campaign.

In contrast, County looked very unlike the team that beat Rangers for the first time in their history just 13 days previously. Gone was the attacking intent and determination that served them so well that day.

The silver lining for interim boss Don Cowie is that St Johnstone, the most likely rival in the race to avoid the relegation play-off place, also lost.

Just one change for Livingston from the team that lost 4-2 at Hearts two weeks ago. Bruce Anderson replaces the injured Tete Yengi in attack.

Ross County are unchanged from the side that defeated Rangers 3-2 in Dingwall 13 days ago.

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Livingston: George, Brandon, Devlin, Nottingham, Obileye, Sean Kelly, Holt, Stephen Kelly, Pittman, MacKay, Anderson.

Substitutes: Hamilton, Carson, Bradley, Sangare, Guthrie, Ledingham, Sharp.

Ross County: Laidlaw, Randall, Baldwin, Leak, Efete, Loturi, Harmon, King, Sims, Dhanda, Murray.

Substitutes: Ross, Brown, Henderson, Khela, Jenks, White, Brophy, Ayina, Reid.

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Tete Yengi is suspended for Livingston while Steven Bradley, Shaun Donnellan, Kurtis Guthrie, Cristian Montano, Joel Nouble, James Penrice and Andrew Shinnie are injured.

Josh Reid is in contention to return for Ross County but the Staggies will be without Max Sheaf for the rest of the season while Scott Allardice, Ross Callachan, Will Nightingale and Dylan Smith remain unavailable.

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Ross County manager Don Cowie hopes a recent warm-weather training camp in Marbella will springboard his side towards Scottish Premiership survival, as they prepare to face Livingston on Saturday.

The Dingwall side sit 11th in the league - one point behind St Johnstone in 10th - and travelled to Spain off the back of their 3-2 win over Rangers two weekends ago.

“It was a trip that was planned a few weeks ago and it was good timing on the back of a really good three points against Rangers,” Cowie said.

“It was about us getting together as a group and getting ready for five very important games. It allowed people to recharge, get some training and some downtime so it was really valuable for us.”

Ross County can relegate Livingston with a win but Cowie is taking nothing for granted against the league's bottom side.

“I’ll be expecting a team that will be doing everything they can to get three points to stay in this division,” said Cowie.

“We’ve got to be prepared for that mentally but we’re just as desperate for the three points.

“We’ve got five games left and now it’s about really attacking the five games and doing everything we can to try and finish in 10th place.”

County stayed up through the play-offs last season, with a penalty shootout win over Partick Thistle, and Cowie wants to avoid such drama this time around.

“It’s not something you want to do on a regular basis but we’ve got a group of players who are used to it from last year,” he said.

“We started the post-split fixtures really well last year, winning back-to-back games, but we found ourselves in that play-off spot so we’ll just take each game as it comes. We don’t look beyond this weekend.”

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• Livingston have only lost one of their seven Scottish Premiership home games against Ross County (W4 D2), going down 1-0 in October 2022.

• After their 3-2 victory in February, Ross County could win successive top-flight meetings with Livingston for the first time, with this the two sides’ 17th such clash.

• Should Livingston lose, their relegation from the Scottish Premiership will be confirmed; it would be the first time they have been relegated from the top flight since 2005-06.

• Ross County are winless in 15 away league games (D5 L10), losing their last six in a row; they have never previously lost seven in succession on the road in the top flight.

• Only Celtic’s Matt O’Riley and Kyogo Furuhashi (six) have combined for more goals than Ross County team-mates Simon Murray and Eamonn Brophy (four) in the Scottish Premiership this season, with Murray assisting Brophy twice in the 3-2 win over Livingston in February. Murray and Yhan Dhanda have also combined for four league goals this term.

Ross County travel to Livingston in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday, looking to both move out of the relegation play-off spot and consign Livi to relegation.

Who would you like to see start for Don Cowie's side? Pick your County XI here.

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Ross County midfielder Max Sheaf will play no further part this season after suffering "a significant muscle injury" in training, the Dingwall club have announced.

In an injury update posted on the official club website, County say defender Will Nightingale and midfielder Scott Allardice could feature in the remaining five league games as they continue their injury rehab.

Meanwhile, Ross Callachan is in line to return to full training "in the coming weeks" after rupturing his ACL in April 2023.

Ross County interim boss Don Cowie urges his players to leave their recent win over Rangers behind them as they target top flight survival. (Press and Journal - subscription), external

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Ross County have been dealt a blow with midfielder Max Sheaf suffering a "pretty significant" muscle injury, manager Don Cowie confirms.

The 24-year-old has featured 19 times in his debut season for County, having signed last summer.

But the former Hull City midfielder is a doubt for the remainder of the campaign after picking up a serious injury last week.

Cowie will be boosted, however, by the return of left-back Josh Reid for Saturday's trip to Livingston.

The County boss is challenging his side, who have only won one league game on the road this season, to improve their away form.

Victory in West Lothian would confirm Livingston's relegation and potentially move Cowie's side out of the relegation play-off place.

"It's about consistency," Cowie said. "We need to do better away from home and we're looking to do that this week."

"Every time you play Livingston it's a challenge. It's not quite gone for them this season, but they'll still give everything to stay in this league.

"We have to be ready and prepared for that."