Date	Saturday, 22 August 2026
Competition	Scottish League Division 1
Fixture/Score	Airdrieonians 1:3 Ross County
Venue	Albert Bartlett Stadium
Referee	Cameron Stirling
Ross County
Manager	Stuart (Ketts) Kettlewell
Starting 11	1: Bradley Foster, 2: Adam Forrester, 3: Lewis Strapp, 4: Akil Wright 1, 5: Lewis Reid, 6: Connor Randall, 9: Brian Graham, 10: Jamie Lindsay 1, 19: Luke McCarvel, 20: Jack Turner, 22: Adam Emslie 1
Bench	31: Bradley Wade, 7: Richard Chin, 11: Kieran Phillips, 15: Dylan Smith 1, 18: Andrew MacLeod, 24: Lewis Jamieson, 28: Jamie Williamson, 43: Josh Reid
Airdrieonians
Manager	John Rankin
Starting 11	Jamie Sneddon, Sam Fisher, Declan Gallagher, Craig Ross 1, Dylan MacDonald, Gavin Gallagher, Callum Burnside, Lewis Gibson 1 1, Aidan Bridge, Liam McLeish 1, Ewan Simpson
Bench	Adam Devine, Kian Taylor, Robbie Mahon, Matty Yates, Cole Williams, Kwame Boateng, Cade Melrose, Henry James, Evan Easton
Attendance	992
Match Report	Ross County Goal Scorer: Akil Wright (26') Jamie Lindsay (34') Akil Wright (74') Ross County Substitutions: Dylan Smith for Adam Forrester (60') Richard Chin for Luke McCarvel (60') Kieran Phillips for Jack Turner (68') Lewis Jamieson for Brian Graham (85') Andrew MacLeod for Adam Emslie (85') Ross County Caution: Dylan Smith (87') Airdrieonians Goal Scorer: Lewis Gibson (50') Airdrieonians Substitutions: Kian Taylor for Gavin Gallagher (12') Matty Yates for Ewan Simpson (46') Robbie Mahon for Sam Fisher (60') Adam Devine for Liam McLeish (60') Airdrieonians Cautions: Liam McLeish (24') Lewis Gibson (28') Craig Ross (87') Report by Paul Chalk for the Press & Journal. Airdrieonians 1 Ross County 3 Ross County maintained their 100% start to the League One season as they defeated Airdrieonians 3-1 at the Albert Bartlett Stadium. The result makes it three wins from three for Stuart Kettlewell’s side, meaning they sit second in the table, one point behind Hamilton Academical but with a game in hand over the Accies. In all competitions, the Staggies have won six successive games and they show no signs of a hangover from last season’s relegation from the Championship. First half goals from Adam Emslie and Jamie Lindsay had the Highland team in cruise control against a Diamonds side who began brightly. Lewis Gibson’s goal early in the second half offered the hosts hope, but defender Akil Wright headed home a third goal to seal the victory. County manager Stuart Kettlewell was delighted that his team responded and stood strong when they required it in the match. He said: “In the first 15 or so minutes, we had to deal with the physicality. There were a lot of late challenges going in on our players and that’s not a criticism. “Airdrie have that right to be really combative and front-foot against us. “We just felt if we could offload the ball a tiny bit quicker, we could play through that pressure and we scored two good goals to get our noses in front and took control of the game. “We spoke (at half-time) about the third goal and it goes to Airdrie. It was poor from us. We were trying to attack and score and there was a turnover of the ball. Credit to them, it was a good goal from their perspective. “I loved the way we reset in the second half and scored the third goal at a really good time and we were comfortably able to see the game out.” Kettlewell praised his players for adding another win and he is keen to see that continue on Tuesday when they host Banks o’ Dee in the KDM Evolution Trophy and then home to East Kilbride in the league next weekend. He added: “It’s been a perfect start in terms of winning games and that’s what we set out to do. “We want to keep that feeling going as long as we possibly can. The players have responded to our call and what we have asked them to do at this point. “The biggest challenge now comes from (keeping) that level of consistency.” Diamonds boss John Rankin was impressed with some aspects of his young team’s play, but it was not enough to get a result. He said: “There’s no denying how inexperienced we are. We’ve boys aged 20-21 who have not played a lot of games. “I thought in the first 20 minutes, we were aggressive and had a couple of flashes across the box and we were not able to get on the end of it. “I also thought I got a really good reaction for the first 25 minutes of the second half. “We spooked County for a good part of it and got a good goal. Had we got a second goal, it would have changed the whole atmosphere and momentum of the game. “We then get done with the third goal from set-play.” County won 3-0 against the Diamonds here last month in the Premier Sports Cup and they were looking for three league points this time. Having defeated Championship opponents Dunfermline Athletic 2-1 last week to earn a Premier Sports Cup home tie with Hibernian, Kettlewell was set to retain the same XI, but an injury for Ross Docherty saw Hearts loanee Adam Forrester take his place. This saw Connor Randall, making his 200th County appearance, move to midfield from right-back where Forrester slotted in for his first league start. Airdrie, with two points from their first three matches, were looking to hit back after a sore 4-0 derby defeat last weekend against Hamilton. The hosts had an early injury setback too as midfielder Gavin Gallagher had to go off with a knock after just 12 minutes, with Kian Taylor taking his place. The first chance of note arrived four minutes later when County midfielder Jack Turner crashed a 25-yarder wide after a corner was not mopped up by Airdrie. The North Lanarkshire side were certainly looking defensively strong while displaying attacking intent, with AJ Bridge hooking an effort over Brad Foster’s goal. On 26 minutes, County opened the scoring when Luke McCarvel picked out Emslie in the box and the ex-Aberdeen player lashed home an unstoppable shot to beat goalkeeper Jamie Sneddon, helped by the slip to the ground by defender Sam Fisher. After being on loan at Cove last term, this was Emslie’s first league goal for the club and followed on from his recent late deflected winner at Elgin City in the KDM Evolution Trophy. And it was 2-0 on 34 minutes as Lindsay knocked home a second goal after skipper Brian Graham teed him up following Sneddon saving another effort from Emslie. This was Lindsay’s third goal of the season, with his other goals coming also against Airdrie and Dunfermline last week. Rankin’s team were jeered off by some of the home supporters – they were calling for a big improvement in the second half. And it took just five minutes after the break for Airdrie to hit the net and it was a sublime hit from Gibson from outside the box after sub Taylor lined him up. It could have been 2-2 just moments later when Gibson was clear through, but he sliced his effort wide, with only Foster to beat. With 16 minutes to go, defender Wright, who scored twice here last season, crashed home a header from an Emslie corner to offer County breathing space in a contest Airdrie believed they could get something from.