Ross County 0-5 Motherwell: Kevin van Veen scores a hat-trick in big win for visitors

Kevin van Veen scored a hat-trick as Motherwell went wild in a 5-0 win over Ross County at Dingwall.

The Dutchman was ruthless in front of goal, with Callum Slattery and Joe Efford also finding the net for the visitors.

Ross County have now gone six games without a win, with only one victory to their name in the entire campaign.

How Motherwell ousted Ross County…

The Staggies made two changes to the side beaten 2-0 by Hibernian on Saturday.

Josh Sims was brought in on the right wing to replace William Akio, with Jordan Tillson back in defense to replace the abandoned David Cancola.

Motherwell also made two changes to the side which lost 2-1 to Celtic. Slattery and Efford replaced Barry Maguire and Dean Cornelius who both fell to the bench.

The visitors had the first chance of the game midway through the first half when Jack Baldwin brought down Van Veen on the edge of the box.

Sean Goss went for the power but his shot smashed into the defensive wall in what summed up a quiet first quarter of the game.

Motherwell was awarded a 25th-minute penalty when Ross Callachan was guilty of bringing down Efford and was booked.

Van Veen kept his composure to insert the penalty past goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw and into the back of the net.

Callachan looked to make amends and did well to break through the Motherwell defence, charging into the box to find Sims six yards from goal, but the midfielder saw his shot deflect and go inches past the goal. left post.

Van Veen should have doubled Motherwell’s advantage early in the second half when Connor Shields did a good job of holding off the Staggies defense and setting up the Dutchman, but he exploded from eight yards out.

However, Motherwell led 2-0 five minutes into the second half. Laidlaw blocked Efford’s shot but the rebound found its way to Slattery and he landed a powerful low kick into the back of the net.

The game was killed a minute later when Efford’s cross in the box broke through a tired Ross County defense to find Van Veen who scored from close range for his ninth of the season in all competitions.

Motherwell continued to rack up the misery as Efford made it four in the 59th minute. He connected with a cross from the left of Matthew Penney and drilled a thunderous drive into the back of the net from 18 yards out.

Van Veen then scored his hat-trick two minutes from time when he burst into the box to connect with a cross from the left and fire from close range to cap off a great night for the visitors.

What the managers said…

Motherwell chief Steven Hammel hailed Motherwell’s five-star performance in Ross County and claimed his team had been threatening to do so for several weeks.

He said: “It’s not our best performance of the season, I think our level of performance has been high most games this season.

“We probably created more chances in other games, but the difference is how clinical we were. It’s something we emphasize and work to be clinical in the final third and it’s good to do that. see coming.

“We have emphasized to the staff that we have played well most games this season. But if the results did not match that and the points on the board did not match that performance, we can only say so for so long. things would have to change.

“If results like this don’t start coming, we might have to be more pragmatic, but we want to stick to the style we have and some of the goals we scored were magnificent.”

Meanwhile, Ross County chief Malky Mackay said he was embarrassed by his own performance after his team was beaten so easily.

“I want to apologize to our fans for having to watch what they did,” he said.

“I’m embarrassed by my own performance, so I want to apologize to them.

“They’ve been fantastic since I got here and the support they’ve given the team and they’ve had to watch that second half.

“We started the first half reasonably well and the penalty came against the run of play.

“We were quite attacking and went into the high areas of the pitch but the ball seems to be rolling past the post. But the second half was awful and that’s something we have to sort out. I am deeply disappointed.”