Simon Murray leads Ross County to a vital three points against Hearts in battle to avoid relegation from Scottish Premiership
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Ross County 2 (Murray x2)
Hearts 1 (Oda)
Simon Murray starred as Ross County secured a vital three points against Hearts in Dingwall.
The former Hibernian striker scored either side of half time to put the Staggies in a commanding position.
Despite hitting the woodwork multiple times and having one goal ruled out for offside, Hearts could only muster a single goal in response through Yutaro Oda in stoppage time.
The Staggies were hit by an early setback before a ball had even been kicked, as Connor Randall – who had only returned from injury against Hibernian midweek – was forced out of the starting line-up after the warm up, being replaced in the 11 by Max Sheaf.
Early on, Jordan White may have been guilty of one of the misses of the season. Simon Murray had done brilliant work on the right flank to get past his marker and send a low cross into the middle, where Jordan White was trying to make up ground.
The former Motherwell striker was stretching for the ball, and somehow conspired to loop it over the bar from just a yard or two out when it looked easier to score.
Hearts would create the better chances as the half went on, though, with Kenneth Vargas seeing his thunderous his effort crash back down off the crossbar, but it was County who would take the lead two minutes before the interval through Murray.
A wonderful ball from Yan Dhanda sent the tenacious forward through on goal, and though Murray's initial attempt was saved by Zander Clark, he responded quickly to ensure his rebound did find the net.
Murray would claim a second minutes after the restart, smashing Josh Reid's cross past Clark to make it 2-0.
Hearts tried to find a way back into the contest and put their hosts under considerable pressure, which led to Alan Forrest hitting the woodwork after fashioning just enough space to shoot inside County's box.
The visitors thought they had one back when Stephen Kingsley scored directly from a free kick, only for VAR to recommend a review for Lawrence Shankland standing in an offside position – with the goal then disallowed.
They would finally cut the deficit in half in stoppage time, when Yutaro Oda expertly finished past Wickens by finding the inside of the post.
Hearts could not find a second to equalise though, and Ross County were able to celebrate a crucial victory on home turf.
Ross County: Wickens, Baldwin, Dhanda, Sheaf, Loturi, Murray, Efete, White, Ayina, Leak, Reid.
Substitutes: Laidlaw, Borthwick-Jackson, Brown, Sims, Harmon, Henderson, Khela, Brophy.
Hearts: Clark, Kingsley, Baningime, Shankland, Atkinson, Rowles, Forrest, Cochrane, Sibbick, Denholm, Vargas.
Substitutes: Gordon, Grant, Oda, Devlin, Tait, Fraser, Tagawa, McLuckie, Lembikisa.
Referee: Grant Irvine
VAR: John Beaton
Attendance: 5267 (2165 away)
