Ross County’s never-say-die spirit was self-evident in the manner of their third Premiership victory of the season after they twice came from behind to deny Dundee a measure of revenge for a five-goal thrashing at Dens Park at the end of October.
County have played better and lost in what is a season of major transition for the club, but if they had to rely to an extent on Dame Fortune’s benevolence to see them across the finishing line on this occasion, it was no more than they deserved on the back of some cruel misfortune at other times.
That said, Dundee understandably felt hard done by in not garnering some reward from their trip to the Highlands, none more so than Luke McCowan, scorer of his side’s two goals.
Any ideas County might have harbored about once again putting their opponent’s to the sword were dispelled after a quarter of an hour when the visitors nicked the opening goal from a set piece. Paul McMullan’s free-kick eluded any defender, allowing Liam Fontaine to head the ball down into the path of McCowan, whose first-time left-footed shot squeezed between goalkeeper Ash Maynard-Brewer’s outstretched left arm and the near post.
County did not appear unduly rattled or despairing, and they were level again eight minutes later when Regan Charles-Cook spotted Dominic Samuel lurking menacingly in line with the defence and exploited the opening.
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It took Samuel two attempts to complete the task of equalising after Adam Legzdins blocked the striker’s header. The goalkeeper was unable to gather the ball, however, and Samuel managed to scramble it across the line.
The ease with which McCowan scored his second after 38 minutes once again highlighted County’s need to stabilise their defence. The home side’s failure to close down McCowan to the left of the 18-yard box meant he had time to take delivery of a pass from Jordan Marshall and pick his spot to restore Dundee’s lead.
A slack pass by Jack Baldwin gifted McCowan the chance to claim a hat-trick but Maynard-Brewer kept his side in the game with a superb one-handed save.
Baldwin atoned for his error in the 64th minute when he fed off the scraps of Legzdins’ failure to gather a corner from Joseph Hungbo and help pressurise Danny Mullen into conceding an own goal.
Mullen responded by hitting the post a short time later after connecting with a shot-cum-cross into the box from McCowan, and Harry Clarke had an effort cleared off the line by Ryan Sweeney.
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But with 78 minutes on the clock Charles-Cook was perfectly placed to lift County off the bottom of the Premiership for the first time since mid-October when he pounced on Blair Spittal’s cross before the referee had the chance to point to the penalty spot after Jordan White had clearly been pushed in the back.
Star man: Regan Charles-Cook
Ross County (4-2-3-1): A Maynard-Brewer 6 — H Clarke 6, J Baldwin 6, K Watson 6, C Randall 5 (J Vokins 21min, 6) — H Paton 5 (J White 46, 5), D Concola 6 (B Spittal 75, 5) — J Hungbo 6, R Callachan 7, R Charles-Cook 7 — D Samuel 6. Booked: Charles-Cook
Dundee (4-4-1-1): A Legzdins 6 — C Kerr 6, L Fontaine 6 (J Cumming 89), R Sweeney 6, J Marshall 6 — L McCowan 7, M Anderson 6, C Adam (J McGhee 13, 6), P McMullan 6 —
P McGowan 6 (L Griffiths 69, 5) — D Mullen 6. Booked: Anderson, Fontaine, Kerr
Referee: Bobby Madden
Attendance: 3,122