Kieran Phillips scoresSNS

Ross County have avoided defeat in their last four matches when scoring first in the Premiership.

Andrew Petrie
BBC Sport Scotland

Kilmarnock fell to their third defeat in a week as Ross County bounced back from a midweek loss to record a crucial win that puts them within two points of the Scottish Premiership top six.

The visitors dominated the early stages in Dingwall, but Marley Watkins' first-half shots were both saved by Jordan Amissah when one-on-one.

County punished slack Kilmarnock defending in the 35th minute, when Kieran Phillips was quickest to react to Jordan White's spilled effort.

That was the hosts' only real chance of note in the entire game, but the defensive effort, led admirably by Kacper Lopata, helped keep Kilmarnock at bay.

The other chance they had also ended up in the back of the net, as Nohan Kenneh steered in from close range after some comical play in the Kilmarnock backline, but VAR saved the visitors as a foul was spotted in the build-up.

Country are up to eighth while Kilmarnock remain 10th and, while they are only six points off the top half, manager Derek McInnes admitted that, if his side had any top six aspirations, this was a game they needed to win.

Looking below them, they remain three points above 11th-placed Dundee and six points above bottom-dwellers St Johnstone.

County rearguard holds out to assuage midweek fears

Such is the tight nature of the league that one bad result can have fans looking over their shoulders at the teams below them.

The midweek lost to St Johnstone did just that for County, given how poor and lifeless the performance was.

Thankfully for Don Cowie, his side responded with a solid defensive effort to frustrate Kilmarnock for the full 90 minutes.

Lopata, Jonathan Tomkinson and Eli Campbell produced heroics time and again and when they could not header or blooter the ball away, Amissah behind them repelled the visitors.

They were, perhaps, a little lucky to score with really their only chance but then dreadfully unlucky to have Kenneh's goal ruled out. In the end, it didn't matter.

Kilmarnock top-six chances all but blown

"Anything other than a win makes it extremely difficult," said McInnes of his side's top six chances, but his players didn't respond to the added pressure placed on them.

Although they had seven shots in the first 20 minutes, only two of them were on target and most of the chances they created were quite sloppy.

Even in the second half, two of Amissah's saves were really from crosses - from Brad Lyons and Fraser Murray - while Bruce Anderson missed a gilt-edged chance from in front of the goal.

Defensively, the goal - and the disallowed goal - was another poor one to concede. It's not the first time we've said that this season, which comes as a surprise given the reputation that Kilmarnock have built under McInnes.

Now, there seems to be a softer underbelly that plenty of Premiership opponents have taken advantage of.

To rub salt in the wound, Kyle Magennis didn't last long after coming on. Trying to jockey Noah Chilvers, the Killie midfielder seemed to twist his knee in the turf and was immediately replaced. Not what anyone wants to see for a player who has suffered so many injury problems.

What they said

Ross County manager Don Cowie: "Very hard fought. A really important three points and another three points toward where we want to get to - 35 points. That was our total last season. We've now got nine games to really add to that.

"It was a tough game, we had to defend a lot. They put us under a lot of pressure, a lot of entries into our box. It's definitely not the best we've played this season, but it's the best three points we've had this season."

Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes: "It's a major disappointment, but I've been in dressing rooms a long time, I can see the commitment and motivation of the players to do better.

We'll get better as we go along, we'll get one or two back. I see signs that we'll be alright."

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