Ross County ease to victory in opening Betfred Cup group match
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Ross County 4 (Mullin, Stewart x2, Mckay)
Montrose 1 (Allan)
Ross County got their Betfred Cup group campaign off to a winning start by seeing off Montrose 4-1 at the Global Energy Stadium.
The Staggies showed no sign of rustiness as a double from Ross Stewart and goals from Josh Mullin and Billy Mckay proved too much for the Angus side to overcome.
Ross County took an early lead through a counter attack.
Jamie Lindsay picked up the ball in his own half and pushed forward, skipping past a couple of opposition players into space.
He had multiple teammates ahead of him as options, and he chose to give the ball to Josh Mullin on his left, whose shot with the outside of his right boot flew into the top corner, curling away from Montrose stopper Aaron Lennox.
The Premiership newcomers would double their lead in the 14th minute.
Summer signing Joe Chalmers played a simple ball to Ross Stewart in the middle of the part, and the towering striker charged forward into the Montrose box.
He was forced slightly wide by his marker, but Stewart still managed to get a shot away and found the bottom corner.
The Staggies saw the vast majority of the ball, with some nice passing interchanges not quite resulting in clear cut opportunities.
County dominated the ball for the rest of the first half, but Josh Skelly forced Ross Laidlaw into action twice before the interval to show that the visitors were not down and out just yet.
Montrose might have felt they needed to make quick impact in the second half to stay in the game, but it was the hosts who stole the first march.
Straight from kick off, Mullin sent a cross in from deep on the right wing to find an unmarked Stewart, who powered his low header into the bottom corner.
But Matty Allan would pull one back for Montrose in the 51st minute.
Allan nicked the ball off Joe Chalmers inside the County box, and was able to turn and shoot – with his effort deflecting off Liam Fontaine and into the net.
From there County went into cruise control, with a firm grasp of the match but not really threatening.
Brian Graham went close in 78th minute with a curled effort from the edge of the box that went over the bar.
And Billy Mckay would make it 4-1 in the 85th minute with a deft chip over the on-rushing Lennox.
