2023–24 Ross County F.C. season

Ross County
2023–24 season
Chairman	Roy MacGregor
Manager	Malky Mackay; (until 15 November); Derek Adams; (from 20 November)
Ground	Victoria Park; Dingwall, Ross-shire; (Capacity: 6,541)
Scottish Premiership	11th
Scottish Cup	Fourth round
Scottish League Cup	Quarter-final
Top goalscorer	League: Simon Murray ; (4 goals); All: Simon Murray ; (11 goals)
Highest home attendance	6,540 vs Rangers ; (26 August 2023)
Lowest home attendance	1,026 vs Kelty Hearts ; (29 July 2023)
	Home colours
	Home colours
	← 2022–23 2024–25 →

The 2023–24 season is Ross County's fifth consecutive season in the Scottish Premiership and the club's 11th season overall in the top flight of Scottish football. Ross County will also compete in the Scottish Cup entering in the fourth round and Scottish League Cup entering in the group stage.

Pre-season and friendlies

Win Draw Loss Postponed

4 July 2023	Nairn County	1–3	Ross County	Nairn
19:30	Dingwall 83'	[1]	Wright 15', 27', 30'	Stadium: Station Park Referee: Gordon Morrison

8 July 2023	Ross County	1–2	Queen's Park	Dingwall
15:00	Murray 33'	[2]	Thomson 80' Paton 88'	Stadium: Victoria Park Referee: ???

Scottish Premiership

Win Draw Loss Postponed

Scottish Premiership

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation^[a]
8	Hibernian	38	11	13	14	52	59	−7	46
9	Motherwell	38	10	13	15	56	59	−3	43
10	St Johnstone	38	8	11	19	29	54	−25	35
11	Ross County (O)	38	8	11	19	38	67	−29	35	Qualification for the Premiership play-off final
12	Livingston (R)	38	5	10	23	29	70	−41	25	Relegation to the Championship

Source: ^[1]^[2]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-Head points; 5) Head-to-Head goal difference; 6) Play-off (only if deciding champion, UEFA competitions qualification, second stage group allocation or relegation).^[3]
(O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ Teams play each other three times (33 matches), before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).

Matches

5 August 2023 1	Celtic	4–2	Ross County	Glasgow
12:30	Turnbull 17' (pen.), 42' Furuhashi 26' O'Riley 73'	[3]	White 60' Brown 90+5'	Stadium: Celtic Park Attendance: 58,772 Referee: Nick Walsh

12 August 2023 2	Ross County	2–0	St Johnstone	Dingwall
15:00	Turner 40' Randall 51'	[4]		Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 4,157 Referee: William Collum

26 August 2023 3	Ross County	0–2	Rangers	Dingwall
12:30		[5]	Roofe 22' Tavernier 26'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 6,540 Referee: David Munro

2 September 2023 4	Kilmarnock	0–1	Ross County	Kilmarnock
15:00		[6]	Murray 53'	Stadium: Rugby Park Attendance: 5,258 Referee: Kevin Clancy

16 September 2023 5	Ross County	1–1	Livingston	Dingwall
15:00	Murray 59'	[7]	Anderson 72'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 3,160 Referee: Euan Anderson

24 September 2023 6	Aberdeen	4–0	Ross County	Aberdeen
15:00	Miovski 21', 52' Duk 42' McGrath 47'	[8]		Stadium: Pittodrie Attendance: 15,116 Referee: Don Robertson

30 September 2023 7	Ross County	0–1	Heart of Midlothian	Dingwall
15:00		[9]	Forrest 70'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 4,773 Referee: David Dickinson

24 October 2023 8	Dundee	0–0	Ross County	Dundee
19:45		[10]		Stadium: Dens Park Attendance: 4,887 Referee: Colin Steven

28 October 2023 9	Motherwell	3–3	Ross County	Motherwell
15:00	Biereth 79' (pen.) Wilkinson 88' Ross 90+4'	[11]	Brophy 65' Murray 73' Loturi 83'	Stadium: Fir Park Attendance: 5,119 Referee: Graham Grainger

31 October 2023 10	Hibernian	2–2	Ross County	Edinburgh
19:45	Purrington 42' (o.g.) Tavares 54'	[12]	Delferriere 74' (o.g.) White 82'	Stadium: Easter Road Attendance: 15,300 Referee: Grant Irvine

4 November 2023 11	Ross County	0–3	Celtic	Dingwall
12:30		[13]	Turnbull 45+7' Palma 78' Forrest 83'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 6,544 Referee: David Munro

11 November 2023 12	St Johnstone	1–0	Ross County	Perth
15:00	Carey 71'	[14]		Stadium: McDiarmid Park Attendance: 3,018 Referee: Nick Walsh

25 November 2023 13	Ross County	0–0	Kilmarnock	Dingwall
15:00		[15]		Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 4,013 Referee: Colin Steven

28 November 2023 14	Ross County	1–0	St Mirren	Dingwall
19:45	White 84'	Report		Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 3,758 Referee: William Collum
Note: Fixture re-arranged due to Storm Babet

2 December 2023 15	Livingston	P–P	Ross County	Livingston
15:00				Stadium: Tony Macaroni Arena
Note: Fixture postponed due to a frozen pitch.

5 December 2023 16	Ross County	3–0	Motherwell	Dingwall
19:45	Murray 2' Dhanda 18' Purrington 56' Nightingale 90+2'	Report		Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 2,835 Referee: David Dickinson

9 December 2023 17	St Mirren	2–0	Ross County	Paisley
15:00	Leak 51 o.g.' Ayunga 56'	Report		Stadium: St Mirren Park Attendance: 5,402 Referee: Calum Scott

16 December 2023 18	Ross County	0–1	Dundee	Dingwall
15:00		Report	Shaughnessy 90+7'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 4,014 Referee: Colin Steven

23 December 2023 19	Ross County	P–P	Hibernian	Dingwall
15:00				Stadium: Victoria Park
Note: Fixture postponed due to a frozen pitch.

27 December 2023 20	Rangers	P–P	Ross County	Glasgow
19:45				Stadium: Ibrox Stadium
Note: Fixture postponed due to weather conditions.

30 December 2023 21	Heart of Midlothian	2–2	Ross County	Edinburgh
15:00	Vargas 71' Shankland 79'	Report	Cochrane 55 o.g.' Dhanda 61'	Stadium: Tynecastle Park Attendance: 18,288 Referee: Alan Muir

2 January 2024 22	Ross County	0–3	Aberdeen	Dingwall
15:00		Report	McGrath 24', 30' Miovski 80'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 5,791 Referee: Matthew MacDermid

27 January 2024 23	Celtic	v	Ross County	Glasgow
15:00				Stadium: Celtic Park

Scottish Cup

20 January 2024 Fourth round	Ross County	v	Partick Thistle	Dingwall
15:00				Stadium: Victoria Park

League Cup

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	PW	PL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	ROS	GMO	KEL	STR	EDI
1	Ross County	4	3	0	1	0	13	6	+7	10	Qualification for the second round	—	2–1	3–3p	—	—
2	Greenock Morton	4	3	0	0	1	11	4	+7	9	Qualification for the second round	—	—	—	3–0	4–1
3	Kelty Hearts	4	2	1	0	1	11	9	+2	8		—	1–3	—	2–0	—
4	Stranraer	4	1	0	0	3	3	11	−8	3		1–5	—	—	—	2–1
5	Edinburgh City	4	0	0	0	4	6	14	−8	0		1–3	—	3–5	—	—

Source: ^[4]
Rules for classification: 1) goal difference, 2) goals scored, 3) away goals scored, 4) matches won, 5) away matches won, 6) drawing of lots.^[5]

Group stage

15 July 2023	Stranraer	1–5	Ross County	Stranraer
15:00	Robertson 72'	[16]	Ross 12' (o.g.) Murray 26', 62', 85' Baldwin 89'	Stadium: Stair Park Attendance: 372 Referee: Grant Irvine

22 July 2023	Ross County	2–1	Greenock Morton	Dingwall
15:00	Henderson 70' Murray 78'	[17]	Oakley 37'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 1,225 Referee: Don Robertson

26 July 2023	Edinburgh City	1–3	Ross County	Edinburgh
19:45	Shanley 51'	[18]	Randall 20' Murray 48' White 59'	Stadium: Meadowbank Stadium Attendance: 449 Referee: Colin Steven

29 July 2023	Ross County	3–3 (3–4 p)	Kelty Hearts	Dingwall
15:00	Sims 13' Murray 29' Brown 86'	[19]	McCluskey 37' Biabi 57' Cunningham 90+3' (pen)	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 1,026 Referee: Steven McLean
	Penalties
	Dhanda Turner Brophy Allardice Sims		Cunningham Moore Lyon Daramola Biabi

Knockout phase

19 August 2023 Second round	Airdrieonians	3–4 (a.e.t.)	Ross County	Airdrie
15:00	Gallagher 36', 82' (pen.) O'Connor 89'	[20]	Turner 6' White 7' Murray 38' Brophy 101'	Stadium: Excelsior Stadium Referee: Steven McLean

27 September 2023 Quarter-final	Ross County	1–2	Aberdeen	Dingwall
19:45	Baldwin 14' Turner 83' (pen.)	[21]	Shinnie 8' Sokler 80'	Stadium: Victoria Park Referee: John Beaton

Squad statistics

Captains

No.	Pos	Nat	Name	No of games	Notes
5	DF		Jack Baldwin	24	Club Captain

Appearances

As of 2 January 2024

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Premiership		Scottish Cup		League Cup
No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	SCO	Ross Laidlaw	22	0	19	0	0	0	3	0
2	DF	ENG	Connor Randall	23	2	17	1	0	0	6	1
3	DF	ENG	Ben Purrington	14	1	11+1	1	0	0	2	0
4	DF	IRL	James Brown	24	2	18	1	0	0	5+1	1
5	DF	ENG	Jack Baldwin	25	1	19	0	0	0	6	1
6	MF	SCO	Scott Allardice	16	0	9+3	0	0	0	3+1	0
7	MF	SCO	Kyle Turner	22	3	5+11	1	0	0	3+3	2
8	MF	SCO	Ross Callachan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	MF	ENG	Yan Dhanda	23	2	18+1	2	0	0	4	0
11	MF	ENG	Josh Sims	16	1	6+4	0	0	0	5+1	1
12	MF	ENG	Max Sheaf	7	0	2+2	0	0	0	0+3	0
14	MF	CAN	Victor Loturi	19	1	9+5	1	0	0	3+2	0
15	FW	SCO	Simon Murray	25	11	18+1	4	0	0	6	7
16	DF	ENG	George Harmon	19	0	5+8	0	0	0	6	0
17	MF	SCO	Jay Henderson	8	1	0+3	0	0	0	2+3	1
18	MF	SCO	Scott High	2	0	0+2	0	0	0	0	0
21	GK	SCO	Ross Munro	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
24	MF	CAN	Ben Paton	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
25	FW	WAL	Alex Samuel	15	0	1+12	0	0	0	0+2	0
26	FW	SCO	Jordan White	25	5	16+3	3	0	0	5+1	2
27	FW	SCO	Eamonn Brophy	13	2	2+9	1	0	0	0+2	1
30	DF	SCO	Dylan Smith	8	0	2+4	0	0	0	0+2	0
35	DF	ENG	Will Nightingale	17	0	10+3	0	0	0	3+1	0
42	DF	WAL	Ryan Leak	20	0	18	0	0	0	2	0
43	DF	SCO	Josh Reid	8	0	3+1	0	0	0	0+4	0
Players who left the club during the season
19	FW	ENG	Jordy Hiwula	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
20	MF	SCO	Adam Mackinnon	2	0	0	0	0	0	0+2	0
22	MF	ENG	Jordan Tillson	2	0	0+1	0	0	0	0+1	0
23	FW	SCO	Matthew Wright	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Goalscorers

Rank	No.	Po.	Name	Premiership	Scottish Cup	League Cup	Total
1	17	FW	Simon Murray	4	0	7	11
2	26	FW	Jordan White	3	0	2	5
3	7	MF	Kyle Turner	1	0	2	3
4	27	FW	Eamonn Brophy	1	0	1	2
	2	DF	Connor Randall	1	0	1
	10	MF	Yan Dhanda	2	0	0
	3	DF	James Brown	1	0	1
5	27	MF	Victor Loturi	1	0	0	1
	11	MF	Josh Sims	0	0	1
	17	MF	Jay Henderson	0	0	1
	5	DF	Jack Baldwin	0	0	1
	3	DF	Ben Purrington	1	0	0
Own Goals				2	0	0	2
Total				16	0	18	34
As of 2 January 2024

Transfers

In

Date	Player	From	Fee
18 June 2023	Scott Allardice	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Free^[6]
21 June 2023	Kyle Turner	Partick Thistle	Free^[7]
26 June 2023	Josh Reid	Coventry City	Undisclosed^[8]
28 June 2023	Max Sheaf	Redditch United	Undisclosed^[9]
29 June 2023	Eamonn Brophy	St Mirren	Undisclosed^[10]
30 June 2023	Jay Henderson	St Mirren	Undisclosed^[11]
7 July 2023	James Brown	Blackburn Rovers	Free^[12]
18 July 2023	Will Nightingale	AFC Wimbledon	Loan^[13]
8 August 2023	Ryan Leak	Salford City	Loan^[14]
1 September 2023	Scott High	Huddersfield Town	Loan^[15]

Out

Date	Player	To	Fee
15 June 2023	Dominic Samuel	Ebbsfleet United	Free^[16]^[17]
23 June 2023	Alex Iacovitti	Port Vale	Free^[18]
23 June 2023	Keith Watson	Raith Rovers	Free^[16]^[19]
13 July 2023	Ryan MacLeman	Elgin City	Loan
14 July 2023	William Akio	Cavalry	Undisclosed^[20]
1 August 2023	Connall Ewan	Elgin City	Loan
11 August 2023	Matthew Wright	Elgin City	Loan^[21]
7 September 2023	Jordan Tillson	Dundee United	Loan^[22]
18 September 2023	David Cancola	Ionikos	Free^[16]
10 January 2024	Kyle Turner	Raith Rovers	Loan^[23]

Notes and references

^ "Scottish Premiership Table". BBC. 28 August 2023.
^ "cinch Premiership League Table". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
^ "The Rules of the Scottish Professional Football League (Rule Number C35-C37)" (PDF). SPFL. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
^ "Summary - League Cup Group D". Soccerway. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
^ "Format". SPFL. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
^ "Scott Allardice: Ross County sign midfielder after he rejects Inverness Caledonian Thistle deal". BBC Sport. 18 June 2023. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
^ "Turner joins County on two-year deal". BBC Sport. 21 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
^ "Summer signings". SPFL. 26 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
^ "Max Sheaf joins from Redditch United!". Ross County FC. 28 June 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
^ "Eamonn Brophy: Ross County sign striker permanently as St Mirren add Stav Nahmani". BBC Sport. 29 June 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
^ "Ross County: Jay Henderson follows Brophy north after St Mirren exit". bbc.co.uk. BBC Sport. 30 June 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
^ "Brown brings 'a wealth of experience'". BBC Sport. 7 July 2023. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
^ "Ross County add defender Nightingale". BBC Sport. 18 July 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
^ "Ryan Leak joins the Staggies!". BBC Sport. 8 August 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
^ "Scott High joins the Staggies on loan". Ross County FC. 1 September 2023. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c "RCFC - Departing Players". rosscountyfootballclub.co.uk. Ross County FC. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
^ "Samuel seals the deal". BBC Sport. 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
^ "Alex Iacovitti: Port Vale sign former Ross County defender". BBC Sport. 23 June 2023. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
^ "Keith Watson signs up". raithrovers.net. Raith Rovers FC. 23 June 2023. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
^ "Akio departs County for undisclosed fee". BBC Sport. 14 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
^ "Matthew Wright joins Elgin City on loan". Ross County FC. 11 August 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
^ "United secure Jordan Tillson on season-long loan from Ross County". Dundee United FC. 7 September 2023. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
^ "Kyle Turner signs". raithrovers.net. Raith Rovers FC. 10 January 2024. Retrieved 11 January 2024.

[1] Teams play each other three times (33 matches), before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).

[2] "Scottish Premiership Table". BBC. 28 August 2023.

[3] "cinch Premiership League Table". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 19 May 2024.

[4] "The Rules of the Scottish Professional Football League (Rule Number C35-C37)" (PDF). SPFL. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2022.

[5] "Summary - League Cup Group D". Soccerway. Retrieved 29 July 2023.

[format-6] "Format". SPFL. Retrieved 7 June 2023.

[7] "Scott Allardice: Ross County sign midfielder after he rejects Inverness Caledonian Thistle deal". BBC Sport. 18 June 2023. Retrieved 18 June 2023.

[8] "Turner joins County on two-year deal". BBC Sport. 21 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.

[SPFL-9] "Summer signings". SPFL. 26 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.

[10] "Max Sheaf joins from Redditch United!". Ross County FC. 28 June 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.

[brophy-11] "Eamonn Brophy: Ross County sign striker permanently as St Mirren add Stav Nahmani". BBC Sport. 29 June 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2023.

[12] "Ross County: Jay Henderson follows Brophy north after St Mirren exit". bbc.co.uk. BBC Sport. 30 June 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.

[13] "Brown brings 'a wealth of experience'". BBC Sport. 7 July 2023. Retrieved 9 July 2023.

[14] "Ross County add defender Nightingale". BBC Sport. 18 July 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.

[15] "Ryan Leak joins the Staggies!". BBC Sport. 8 August 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.

[16] "Scott High joins the Staggies on loan". Ross County FC. 1 September 2023. Retrieved 2 September 2023.

[rcfc-17] "RCFC - Departing Players". rosscountyfootballclub.co.uk. Ross County FC. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.

[18] "Samuel seals the deal". BBC Sport. 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 November 2023.

[19] "Alex Iacovitti: Port Vale sign former Ross County defender". BBC Sport. 23 June 2023. Retrieved 23 June 2023.

[20] "Keith Watson signs up". raithrovers.net. Raith Rovers FC. 23 June 2023. Retrieved 23 June 2023.

[21] "Akio departs County for undisclosed fee". BBC Sport. 14 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

[22] "Matthew Wright joins Elgin City on loan". Ross County FC. 11 August 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.

[23] "United secure Jordan Tillson on season-long loan from Ross County". Dundee United FC. 7 September 2023. Retrieved 9 September 2023.

[24] "Kyle Turner signs". raithrovers.net. Raith Rovers FC. 10 January 2024. Retrieved 11 January 2024.

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v t e Ross County Football Club
Players Managers Records Notable matches Honours Seasons
History	2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Home stadium	Victoria Park
Rivalries	Highland derby

v t e 2023–24 in Scottish football
« 2022–23 2024–25 »
Domestic leagues	SPFL Premiership Championship League One League Two Highland Lowland Midlands North Caledonian North Region Junior East of Scotland South of Scotland West of Scotland Women's Premier League SWPL 1 SWPL 2 Women's Championship
Domestic cups	Scottish Cup Final League Cup Group stage Final Challenge Cup Final South Region Challenge Cup Junior Cup Youth Cup Women's Cup Women's Premier League Cup Final
European competitions	Champions League Europa League Europa Conference League Youth League
Related to national team	Results Men's Women's UEFA Euro 2024 UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying UEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying 2023–24 UEFA Women's Nations League
Transfers	Summer 2023 Winter 2023–24
Club seasons
Premiership	Aberdeen Celtic Dundee Heart of Midlothian Hibernian Kilmarnock Livingston Motherwell Rangers Ross County St Johnstone St Mirren
Championship	Airdrieonians Arbroath Ayr United Dundee United Dunfermline Athletic Greenock Morton Inverness Caledonian Thistle Partick Thistle Queen's Park Raith Rovers
League One	Alloa Athletic Annan Athletic Cove Rangers Edinburgh City Falkirk Hamilton Academical Kelty Hearts Montrose Queen of the South Stirling Albion
League Two	Clyde Dumbarton Bonnyrigg Rose East Fife Elgin City Forfar Athletic Peterhead Spartans Stenhousemuir Stranraer