2020–21 Ross County F.C. season

Ross County
2020–21 season
Chairman	Roy MacGregor
Manager	Stuart Kettlewell ; (until 19 December); John Hughes
Ground	Victoria Park; Dingwall, Ross-shire; (Capacity: 6,541)
Scottish Premiership	10th
Scottish League Cup	Quarter-finals
Scottish Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Oli Shaw (6); All: Oli Shaw (8)
Home colours	Away colours
	← 2019–20 2021–22 →

The 2020–21 season is Ross County's second consecutive season in the Scottish Premiership and the club's 8th season overall in the top flight of Scottish football. Ross County will also compete in the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup. Stuart Kettlewell was sacked as the club's manager on 19 December, after a defeat to Hamilton.^[1] John Hughes was appointed as the new manager on 21 December.^[2]

Results and fixtures

Win Draw Loss Postponed

Pre-season

11 July 2020 Friendly	Aberdeen	2–2	Ross County	Aberdeen
	Anderson	[1]	Charles-Cook Mckay	Stadium: Cormack Park Attendance: 0

25 July 2020 Friendly	Livingston	2–2	Ross County	Livingston
14:00	Dykes 33' Kouider-Aissa 49'		Stewart 55' Fontaine 75'	Stadium: Almondvale Stadium Attendance: 0

26 July 2020 Friendly	Celtic	2–0	Ross County	Glasgow
13:00	Donaldson 3' (o.g.) Elyounoussi 14'	[2]		Stadium: Celtic Park Attendance: 0

Scottish Premiership

3 August 2020 1	Ross County	1–0	Motherwell	Dingwall
19:45	Stewart 24' (pen.) Paton 57' Reid 75'	[3]	Gallagher 24' Donnelly 73' Lang 87'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Nick Walsh

8 August 2020 2	Hamilton Academical	0–1	Ross County	Hamilton
15:00		[4]	McKay 76' Vigurs 90+1'	Stadium: New Douglas Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Bobby Madden

12 August 2020 3	Ross County	2–2	Kilmarnock	Dingwall
19:45	Draper 15' Stewart 79' (pen.)	[5]	Power 59' Burke 66'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Gavin Duncan

15 August 2020 4	Ross County	1–2	Dundee United	Dingwall
15:00	Paton 22' Donaldson 29' 87'	[6]	Appéré 34' Pawlett 40' Clark 79'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Craig Napier

22 August 2020 5	St Mirren	1–1	Ross County	Paisley
15:00	Obika 14' Shaughnessy 62'	[7]	Reid 28' Vigurs 41' Sheron 70' (o.g.)	Stadium: St Mirren Park Attendance: 0

29 August 2020 6	Livingston	1–0	Ross County	Livingston
15:00	Guthrie 64' Serrano 67'	[8]	Draper 18' Tremarco 51' Gardyne 65' Donaldson 90+3'	Stadium: Almondvale Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: John Beaton

12 September 2020 7	Ross County	0–5	Celtic	Dingwall
15:00		[9]	Édouard 4' (pen.) Ajeti 20' Duffy 59' Ajer 64' Klimala 75'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 300 Referee: Andrew Dallas

19 September 2020 8	St Johnstone	0–1	Ross County	Perth
15:00		[10]	Vigurs 42'	Stadium: McDiarmid Park Attendance: 0 Referee: David Munro

27 September 2020 9	Ross County	0–3	Aberdeen	Dingwall
15:00	Vigurs 60'	[11]	Watkins 42' Ferguson 60' (pen.), 76' (pen.)	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Willie Collum

4 October 2020 10	Rangers	2–0	Ross County	Glasgow
15:00	Tavernier 17' (pen.) Barker 88'	[12]		Stadium: Ibrox Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Greg Aitken

17 October 2020 11	Ross County	0–0	Hibernian	Dingwall
15:00	Randall 79'	[13]		Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Nick Walsh

24 October 2020 12	Motherwell	4–0	Ross County	Motherwell
15:00	Watt 37' Long 41' O'Hara 54' (pen.) Lang 64' Maguire 65' Cole 72'	[14]	Vigurs 53'	Stadium: Fir Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Craig Napier

31 October 2020 13	Dundee United	2–1	Ross County	Tannadice Park
15:00	Clark 19' (pen.), 51'	[15]	Shaw 81'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Steven Kirkland

6 November 2020 14	Ross County	1–1	Livingston	Dingwall
19:45	Shaw 28' Kelly 90'	[16]	Devlin 56' Bartley 70'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 300 Referee: Kevin Clancy

21 November 2020 15	Kilmarnock	3–1	Ross County	Kilmarnock
15:00	Findlay 8' Brophy 14' Kabamba 68' (pen.) McKenzie 90+1' Burke 90+3'	[17]	Grivosti 42'	Stadium: Rugby Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Colin Steven

6 December 2020 16	Ross County	0–4	Rangers	Dingwall
12:00		[18]	Roofe 28' Tavernier 56' Morris 72' (o.g.) Defoe 90'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 300 Referee: John Beaton

12 December 2020 17	Aberdeen	2–0	Ross County	Aberdeen
15:00	Main 5', 57'	[19]		Stadium: Pittodrie Attendance: 0 Referee: Nick Walsh

19 December 2020 18	Ross County	0–2	Hamilton Academical	Dingwall
15:00		[20]	Callachan 22' Martin 62'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 300 Referee: William Collum

23 December 2020 19	Celtic	2–0	Ross County	Glasgow
	Turnbull 24' Griffiths 61'	[21]		Stadium: Celtic Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Euan Anderson

26 December 2020 20	Ross County	0–2	St Mirren	Victoria Park
15:00	Reid 36' Draper 60'	[22]	Fraser 76' Dennis 85'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Colin Steven

30 December 2020 21	Hibernian	0–2	Ross County	Edinburgh
18:00		[23]	Paton 25' Shaw 76'	Stadium: Easter Road Attendance: 0 Referee: Don Robertson

2 January 2021 22	Ross County	1–1	St Johnstone	Dingwall
15:00	Draper 21'	[24]	Conway 26' (pen.)	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 0 Referee: William Collum

10 January 2021 23	Livingston	3−1	Ross County	Almondvale Stadium
15:00	Robinson 9' Forrest 81' Hamilton 90+1'	[25]	Lakin 28'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Alan Muir

16 January 2021 24	Ross County	4–1	Aberdeen	Dingwall
15:00	Shaw 1', 84' Lakin 20' Hylton 90+3'	[26]	Iacovitti 45+1' (o.g.)	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Colin Dteven

23 January 2021 25	Rangers	5–0	Ross County	Glasgow
15:00	Kent 6' Helander 28' Aribo 37' Jack 66' Goldson 81'	[27]		Stadium: Ibrox Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Euan Anderson

27 January 2021 26	Ross County	1–2	Motherwell	Dingwall
18:00	Shaw 14'	[28]	Cole 51' Mugabi 72'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Nick Walsh

3 February 2021 27	Hamilton Academical	1–2	Ross County	Hamilton
18:00	Kelly 16' (o.g.)	[29]	White 81' McKay 85'	Stadium: New Douglas Park Attendance: 0 Referee: William Collum

6 February 2021 28	Ross County	0–2	Dundee United	Dingwall
15:00		[30]	Shankland 63' Edwards 76'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Grant Irvine

21 February 2021 29	Ross County	1–0	Celtic	Dingwall
19:30	White 71'	[31]		Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 0 Referee: David Munro

27 February 2021 30	St Mirren	1–0	Ross County	Paisley
15:00	McGrath 82' (pen.)	[32]		Stadium: St Mirren Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Greg Aitken

6 March 2021 31	Ross County	3–2	Kilmarnock	Dingwall
15:00	McKay 38', 49' Hjelde 47'	[33]	Lafferty 18', 77' (pen.) Millen 90+2'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Euan Anderson

13 March 2021 32	Ross County	1–2	Hibernian	Dingwall
15:00	McKay 50'	[34]	Boyle 52' (pen.) Nisbet 60'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 0 Referee: John Beaton

20 March 2021 33	St Johnstone	1−0	Ross County	Perth
15:00	Middleton 86'	[35]		Stadium: McDiarmid Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Craig Napier

10 April 2021 34	Kilmarnock	2–2	Ross County	Kilmarnock
15:00	Burke 3' Pinnock 16'	[36]	Gardyne 5' Iacovitti 54'	Stadium: Rugby Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Colin Steven

21 April 2021 35	Ross County	1–3	St Mirren	Dingwall
19:45	White 18'	[37]	Erwin 50' Durmuş 71' McGrath 90+2' (pen.)	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Bobby Madden

1 May 2020 36	Dundee United	0–2	Ross County	Dundee
15:00		[38]	White 24' Iacovitti 28'	Stadium: Tannadice Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Kevin Clancy

12 May 2021 37	Ross County	2–1	Hamilton Academical	Dingwall
19:45	Spittal 28' Lakin 70'	[39]	McMann 26'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 0 Referee: William Collum

16 May 2021 38	Motherwell	1–2	Ross County	Motherwell
12:00	Foley 7'	[40]	Vigurs 49' Gardyne 66'	Stadium: Fir Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Steven McLean

Scottish League Cup

Group stage

7 October 2020 Group stage	Montrose	3–3 (4–5 p)	Ross County	Montrose
19:45	Webster 63' Ballantyne 67' Steeves 89'	^[3]	Shaw 13' Mckay 15' Charles-Cook 52'	Stadium: Links Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Gavin Duncan
	Penalties
	Webster Steeves Milne Campbell Rennie		Stewart Mckay Paton Gardyne Lakin

13 October 2020 Group stage	Ross County	2–1	Arbroath	Dingwall
19:45	Stewart 65', 68' (pen.)	^[4]	Hilson 49'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Steven McLean

10 November 2020 Group stage	Elgin City	1–4	Ross County	Elgin
19:45	Cooper Cameron 80'	[41]	Grivosti 5' Iacovitti 45' Paton 51' Lakin 77'	Stadium: Borough Briggs Attendance: 0 Referee: Gavin Duncan

14 November 2020 Group stage	Ross County	3–0	Stirling Albion	Dingwall
15:00	Shaw 21' Stewart 50' (pen.) Charles-Cook 52'	[42]		Stadium: Global Energy Stadium Attendance: 300 Referee: Alan Muir

Knockout phase

29 November 2020 Second round	Celtic	0–2	Ross County	Glasgow
14:00		Report	Stewart 39' (pen.) Iacovitti 84'	Stadium: Celtic Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Kevin Clancy

16 December 2020 Quarter-finals	Livingston	2–0	Ross County	Livingston
19:45	Sibbald 4' Forrest 24'	[43]		Stadium: Tony Macaroni Arena Attendance: 0 Referee: Steven McLean

Scottish Cup

2 April 2021 Third round	Ross County	1–3	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Dingwall
19:45	Mckay 38'	[44]	Todorov 40' D.MacKay 54' Sutherland 87'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Nick Walsh

Squad statistics

^[5]

Appearances

As of 16 May 2021

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Premiership		Scottish Cup		League Cup
No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	SCO	Ross Laidlaw	40	0	33	0	1	0	6	0
2	DF	ENG	Connor Randall	17	0	13+2	0	0	0	1+1	0
3	DF	ENG	Carl Tremarco	15	0	8+4	0	0	0	3	0
5	DF	NIR	Callum Morris	17	0	12	0	0	0	4+1	0
4	DF	NOR	Leo Hjelde	12	1	10+1	1	1	0	0	0
6	MF	ENG	Ross Draper	22	2	13+8	2	0	0	0+1	0
7	FW	SCO	Michael Gardyne	35	2	21+10	2	1	0	1+2	0
8	FW	SCO	Oli Shaw	31	8	12+13	6	1	0	3+2	2
9	FW	NIR	Billy Mckay	35	7	14+14	5	1	1	4+2	1
10	MF	FRA	Mohamed Maouche	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
11	MF	SCO	Iain Vigurs (c)	35	2	28+2	2	1	0	4	0
12	DF	ENG	Tom Grivosti	7	2	3+2	1	0	0	2	1
14	FW	ENG	Jermaine Hylton	23	1	7+11	1	0+1	0	4	0
15	DF	SCO	Keith Watson	26	0	17+6	0	1	0	2	0
16	DF	SCO	Alex Iacovitti	42	4	34+2	2	0	0	5+1	2
17	MF	GRN	Regan Charles-Cook	32	2	9+17	0	0+1	0	5	2
18	MF	SCO	Stephen Kelly	29	0	16+9	0	1	0	3	0
19	MF	ENG	Charlie Lakin	24	4	14+5	3	1	0	3+1	1
20	MF	SCO	Blair Spittal	9	1	7+2	1	0	0	0	0
21	GK	ENG	Joe Hilton	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
22	MF	ENG	Jordan Tillson	36	0	20+12	0	0	0	2+2	0
22	DF	SCO	Jason Naismith	18	0	17	0	1	0	0	0
24	MF	CAN	Harry Paton	40	2	25+10	1	0	0	4+1	1
25	DF	SCO	Coll Donaldson	34	1	26+2	1	1	0	4+1	0
26	FW	SCO	Jordan White	13	4	11+1	4	0+1	0	0	0
28	MF	FRA	Tony Andreu	6	0	4+2	0	0	0	0	0
31	GK	SCO	Ross Munro	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
44	FW	SCO	Matthew Wright	3	0	0+2	0	0	0	0+1	0
46	DF	SCO	Ben Williamson	2	0	0	0	0	0	0+2	0
47	MF	SCO	Adam Mackinnon	1	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0
Players who left the club during the season
10	FW	SCO	Lee Erwin	4	0	2+2	0	0	0	0	0
10	FW	IRL	Michael O'Connor	1	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0
14	MF	SCO	Josh Mullin	5	0	1+4	0	0	0	0	0
21	GK	SCO	Ross Doohan	5	0	5	0	0	0	0	0
27	FW	SCO	Ross Stewart	24	6	19	2	0	0	4+1	4
41	GK	SCO	Logan Ross	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
43	DF	SCO	Josh Reid	24	0	17+3	0	0	0	3+1	0

Goalscorers

Rank	No.	Po.	Name	League	Cup	League Cup	Total
1	8	FW	Oli Shaw	6	0	2	8
2	9	FW	Billy McKay	5	1	1	7
3	27	FW	Ross Stewart	2	0	4	6
4	26	FW	Jordan White	4	0	0	4
	19	MF	Charlie Lakin	3	0	1	4
	16	DF	Alex Iacovitti	2	0	2	4
7	6	MF	Ross Draper	2	0	0	2
	7	MF	Michael Gardyne	2	0	0	2
	11	MF	Iain Vigurs	2	0	0	2
	24	MF	Harry Paton	1	0	1	2
	12	DF	Tom Grivosti	1	0	1	2
	17	MF	Regan Charles-Cook	0	0	2	2
11	14	FW	Jermaine Hylton	1	0	0	1
	20	MF	Blair Spittal	1	0	0	1
	25	DF	Coll Donaldson	1	0	0	1
	4	DF	Leo Hjelde	1	0	0	1
Own Goals				1	0	0	1
Total				35	1	14	50
As of 16 May 2021

Team statistics

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation^[a]
8	Motherwell	38	12	9	17	39	55	−16	45
9	Dundee United	38	10	14	14	32	50	−18	44
10	Ross County	38	11	6	21	35	66	−31	39
11	Kilmarnock (R)	38	10	6	22	43	54	−11	36	Qualification for the Premiership play-off final
12	Hamilton Academical (R)	38	7	9	22	34	67	−33	30	Relegation to Championship

Source: ^[6]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-Head goal difference; 6) Play-off (only if deciding champion, UEFA competitions qualification, second stage group allocation or relegation).^[7]
(R) Relegated
Notes:

League cup table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	PW	PL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	ROS	ARB	ELG	STI	MON
1	Ross County	4	3	1	0	0	12	5	+7	11	Qualification for the Second round	—	2–1	—	3–0	—
2	Arbroath	4	3	0	0	1	9	4	+5	9	Qualification for the Second round	—	—	3–0	—	3–1
3	Elgin City	4	2	0	0	2	5	7	−2	6		1–4	—	—	2–0	—
4	Stirling Albion	4	1	0	0	3	3	8	−5	3		—	1–2	—	—	2–1
5	Montrose	4	0	0	1	3	5	10	−5	1		3–3p	—	0–2	—	—

Source: ^[8]
Rules for classification: 1) points, 2) goal difference, 3) goals scored, 4) away goals scored, 5) matches won, 6) away matches won, 7) drawing of lots.^[9]

Transfers

In

Date	Player	From	Fee
24 June 2020	Stephen Kelly	Rangers	Loan
25 June 2020	Connor Randall	Arda Kardzhali	Free^[10]
26 June 2020	Alex Iacovitti	Oldham Athletic	Free
30 June 2020	Regan Charles-Cook	Gillingham	Free^[11]
16 July 2020	Carl Tremarco	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Free^[12]^[13]
1 August 2020	Ross Doohan	Celtic	Loan
27 September 2020	Michael O'Connor	Waterford	Undisclosed
2 October 2020	Jermaine Hylton	Motherwell	Free
5 October 2020	Charlie Lakin	Birmingham City	Loan^[14]
8 December 2020	Jason Naismith	Peterborough United	Free^[15]
7 January 2021	Tony Andreu	St Mirren	Free^[16]
8 January 2021	Mohamed Maouche	Oldham Athletic	Free^[17]^[18]
22 January 2021	Leo Hjelde	Celtic	Loan^[19]
27 January 2021	Joe Hilton	Blackburn Rovers	Loan^[20]
28 January 2021	Jordan White	Motherwell	Free^[21]

Out

Date	Player	To	Fee
10 June 2020	Don Cowie	Retired	Free^[22]
10 July 2020	Declan McManus	Dunfermline Athletic	Free^[23]^[24]
20 July 2020	Richard Foster	Partick Thistle	Free^[23]^[25]
28 July 2020	Marcus Fraser	St Mirren	Free^[26]^[27]
3 August 2020	Lewis Spence	Scunthorpe United	Free^[23]
10 September 2020	Lee Erwin	St Mirren	Free^[28]
15 September 2020	Joe Chalmers	Ayr United	Undisclosed
5 October 2020	Josh Mullin	Livingston	Free^[29]^[30]
28 October 2020	Sean Kelly	Falkirk	Free^[23]^[31]
18 November 2020	Adam Mackinnon	Brora Rangers	Loan
18 November 2020	Logan Ross	Lossiemouth	Loan
20 November 2020	Liam Fontaine	Dundee	Free^[32]
1 December 2020	Michael O'Connor	Shelbourne	Free^[33]
28 January 2021	Josh Reid	Coventry City	Undisclosed^[34]
31 January 2021	Ross Stewart	Sunderland	£300,000^[35]

Notes and references

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[2]

[3]

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[5]

[a]

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[7]

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[17]

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[19]

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[21]

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[24]

[25]

[26]

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[28]

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[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

[34]

[35]

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