Date	Saturday, 13 March 2021
Competition	Scottish Premiership
Fixture/Score	Ross County 1:2 Hibernian
Venue	Global Energy Stadium at Victoria Park
Referee	John Beaton
Ross County
Manager	John Hughes
Starting 11	1: Ross Laidlaw, 4: Leo Hjelde, 9: Billy Mckay 1, 15: Keith Watson, 16: Alexander Iacovitti, 19: Charlie Lakin, 20: Blair Spittal, 22: Jordon Tillson, 23: Jason Naismith, 25: Coll Donaldson, 26: Jordan White 1
Bench	21: Joseph Hilton, 6: Ross Draper, 7: Michael Gardyne, 8: Oliver Shaw, 11: Iain Vigurs, 14: Jermaine Hylton, 17: Regan Charles-Cook, 18: Stephen Kelly, 24: Harrison Paton
Hibernian
Manager	Jack Ross
Starting 11	Ofir Marciano, Paul Hanlon, Ryan Porteous, Paul McGinn, Christian Doidge, Martin Boyle 1 (1 pen) 1, Joe Newell 1, Alex Gogic 1, Josh Doig, Chris Cadden, Jackson Irvine
Bench	Matt Macey, David Gray, Kyle Magennis, Drey Wright, Kevin Nisbet 1, Lewis Stevenson, Melker Hallberg, Scott Allan, Darren McGregor
Attendance
Match Report	Ross County Goal Scorer: Billy Mckay (50') Ross County Substitutions: Jermaine Hylton for Blair Spittal (63') Michael Gardyne for Jordan Tillson (68') Ross Draper for Coll Donaldson (69') Harry Paton for Charlie Lakin (69') Oli Shaw for Alex Iacovitti (83') Ross County Caution: Jordan White (68') Hibernian Goal Scorers: Martin Boyle (52' Pen.) Kevin Nisbet (60') Hibernian Substitutions: Kevin Nisbet for Chris Cadden (52') Lewis Stevenson for Josh Doig (75') Darren McGregor for Christian Doidge (88') Hibernian Cautions: Alex Gogic (9') Martin Boyle (54') Joe Newell (81') Report by Clive Lindsay for the BBC. Played Behind Closed Doors Ross County 1 Hibernian 2 Ross County manager John Hughes thought Martin Boyle dived like he was "wearing Speedos" as Hibernian consolidated third spot in the Scottish Premiership. Hibs recovered from a Billy Mckay opener and a Kevin Nisbet finish secured a win for the visitors. But Hughes thinks the equalising penalty, won and scored by Boyle, was dubious and that the winger should have received a second yellow card. "The last time I saw a dive like that the boy had Speedos on," he said. "Boyle had been booked for a tackle in a wide area, then he dived again in the box and John Beaton chose to ignore it for the simple reason it's a red card. It's not a slip, it's not play-on, it's a dive." Hughes also felt hard done-by at the spot kick won by Boyle, suggesting that his team appear regularly to be on the wrong side of such decisions. "I think Boyle has conned John Beaton," he told BBC Scotland. "Very clever, part and parcel of the game." Defeat leaves County still four points ahead of bottom side Kilmarnock and three clear of Hamilton Academical. For Hibs, though, victory stretches their lead over fourth-top Aberdeen to six points. Considering County had gone loss-win-loss for their previous six games, it was perhaps predictable that Hughes' side should follow last week's victory over Kilmarnock with a defeat. It was five years to the day since County enjoyed their greatest triumph - beating Hibs to lift the Scottish League Cup for the first time - and three months since they won 2-0 at Easter Road. Hibs head coach Jack Ross said before kick-off his side were looking to right a few wrongs in what he described as their most important game of the season so far. And they started in the determined fashion he wanted as they looked to end a run of two consecutive defeats. However, they were consistently thwarted by the offside flag and County's high line - and Chris Cadden wastefully skied their only clear-cut chance of the first half. Heavy Highland rain rolling in to replace the sunshine was accompanied by a shower of action shortly after the break as Jordan White headed on a speculative ball into the visitors' penalty box and Mckay slotted in from close range for his fourth goal in as many games. Two minutes later, Boyle went down under an Alex Iacovitti challenge and, despite County protests, the winger fired his spot-kick down the middle to beat former Hibs goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw for his sixth goal in seven outings. Another eight minutes and another goal as substitute Nisbet, who had been relegated to the Hibs bench, pounced on a Paul Hanlon prod across the face of goal to end a nine-game wait for his 14th of the season. It came moments after Hibs claimed for another penalty as County appealed for what would have been a second yellow card to be shown to Boyle for diving. That was followed by a series of fine saves from Laidlaw and Hibs counterpart Ofir Marciano, but it was Hibs who held off a late County surge to move closer to Europa League qualification. Perhaps the unwelcome lesson from Global Energy Stadium is that football is better in the pouring rain. We already knew that Martin Boyle's pace breathes fear into opposition defences, now we are seeing what an influence Jackson Irvine is becoming in midfield and, having shaken off those two consecutive losses, Hibs are back in control of their own destiny in third. County's inconsistency continues, but they showed evidence again of the improvement since Hughes took charge and Hamilton's defeat away to Livingston keeps them in pole position to avoid the bottom two spots. Ross County manager John Hughes: "I just felt Hibs were the better team in the first half - we rode our luck and never laid a glove on them. But we were solid, the shape was good, you could see the spirit. "I made a wee tweak at half-time - I put Blair Spittal in a different position - and it helped us a little bit. But they've said for a long time in football, you are at your most vulnerable after you've gone ahead and we can't hold on to the lead for more than a couple of minutes, but in saying that, it is a real dubious penalty." Hibernian head coach Jack Ross: "A big three points to put right some of those records against Ross County and I mentioned it being the biggest game of the season for us at this stage and I thought we responded. "In the first half, we were good, really dominant in terms of territory and then the second was much more expansive and to show the resilience to come back from a goal behind is not something we've done often enough this season and it makes it a good afternoon for us."