The final scoreline of Queen of the South 1-7 Ross County at Palmerston Park on 17 October 2026 was the latest emphatic result in a prolific opening to the Scottish League One season. Ten matches into their bid for an immediate return to the Championship, Stuart Kettlewell’s side sit top of the table with 28 points from nine wins, one draw and no defeats. They have scored 38 goals and conceded only six, giving them a goal difference of +32.
Even so, the league table leaves little room for complacency. Hamilton Academical sit second on 25 points from nine matches and hold a game in hand. More importantly for those in Dingwall, a dominant autumn run is only one part of a larger rebuilding job. After suffering consecutive relegations, Ross County are trying to fix the deeper recruitment and squad-building problems that dragged the club into the third tier.
The cost of consecutive relegations
Ross County’s slide down the divisions was steep for a club that had spent 12 of the previous 13 seasons in the Scottish top flight. Their 2025 relegation from the Premiership, which came when they lost the Premiership play-off final to Livingston, was followed a year later by relegation from the Championship in May 2026. On 1 May 2026, a 3-2 away defeat to Raith Rovers confirmed that second drop, a result documented in The Press and Journal’s report on the relegation to League One. It sent the club back into the third tier for the first time in almost two decades.
Dropping through two divisions in successive seasons forced the club to look beyond the results and examine how the squad had been put together. County had signed experienced players in an effort to compete at a higher level, but collecting established names failed to produce a cohesive side. Chairman Roy MacGregor acknowledged that the previous group had not come together as intended and that the club needed to rethink its recruitment.
“Recruitment is not just technical recruitment, it’s cultural recruitment. We didn’t get that together,” MacGregor told The Press and Journal in May. Read MacGregor’s assessment of what went wrong.
MacGregor’s comments pointed to a trap that often catches clubs after relegation from the top flight. Signing experienced players on reputation alone does not guarantee a functioning team if the blend of characters and roles is wrong. Recognising that the squad lacked cohesion gave Ross County a clear starting point for their summer rebuild.
Rethinking how players arrive in Dingwall
That off-pitch reset began to take shape in May when Ross County appointed Donnie Forbes as head of data strategy and recruitment. His arrival coincided with wider changes to the existing recruitment staff, signalling a clear intention to reassess how players were identified and brought to Dingwall.
Forbes arrived with a background spanning talent identification, scouting, academy coaching and football operations. Bringing those areas together is central to the club’s revised model, which combines data analysis with scouting and a clear understanding of Ross County’s playing requirements. Rather than looking at signings in isolation, the structure is built to find players who fit how the team wants to play.
The new approach also looks closer to home. Forbes has emphasised the need to identify talent in the Highlands and create opportunities for academy players, a shift that aligns with the club’s desire to rebuild the connection between the first-team squad and the wider club.
“We need to maximise our existing resources and use them in a smarter way,” Forbes told The Press and Journal in June.
For a club aiming to bounce straight back to the Championship, overhauling the recruitment department provides a clearer sense of direction than short-term firefighting. Even so, backroom changes alone do not win promotion. The new recruitment model will ultimately be judged by the players brought into the building, their contributions on the pitch and the team’s results over the full season.
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Goals at one end and control at the other
On the pitch, the early response under Kettlewell has been ruthless. After two seasons defined by setbacks, Ross County have found a clinical edge in League One. Their 7-1 away victory over Queen of the South at Palmerston Park was not an isolated scoring burst, nor was it their biggest win against the same opponent this term, having already beaten Queen of the South 8-0 at home in September.
The trip to Palmerston Park capped a prolific October run of 16 goals across three league matches. County beat Alloa Athletic 4-1 on 3 October before winning 5-0 away to Montrose a week later. When they met Queen of the South again on 17 October, Ross County scored seven goals.
Scoring freely both at home and away gives Kettlewell plenty of encouragement, but the defensive numbers are just as significant for a promotion push. Conceding only six goals across 10 league games shows a side that is controlling matches at both ends of the pitch.
Still, dominating individual fixtures in the opening months is different from sustaining a title challenge across a full campaign. As League One opponents adjust and prepare specifically for County’s attacking threat, Kettlewell’s players will need to keep finding results against a range of approaches.
Autumn tests against Airdrieonians and Hamilton
The immediate task for Ross County is to turn a strong opening quarter into consistent form across the autumn. Their next two league games bring consecutive home tests in Dingwall, first against Airdrieonians on 24 October and then against second-placed Hamilton Academical on 27 October.
The visit of Hamilton is particularly significant. Because Hamilton have taken 25 points from nine matches and hold a game in hand, Ross County’s three-point lead at the top of the table does not tell the whole story.
Even with that caveat, the contrast between the misery of May and the authority of October is stark. Two painful relegations forced Ross County to confront their recruitment mistakes and rethink how they build a squad. Ten games into the league campaign, an unbeaten record and a +32 goal difference have given the club a strong platform.
A return to the Championship cannot be taken for granted this early in the season, but the summer reset and the performances under Kettlewell have put Ross County in a strong position to compete for it.
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