Ross Laidlaw (born 12 July 1992) is a Scottish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Ross County. He has previously played for

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leag ...

Elgin City Elgin City Football Club (also known as City or The Black and Whites) is a professional senior football club based in Elgin, Moray. Elgin was founded in 1893 and originally played their football in the Highland Football League. The club was g ...

, Hibernian and

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

Career

Raith Rovers

Laidlaw began his playing career for the

under-19 side. He progressed to the senior side and appeared on bench on two occasions during the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season. He featured in pre-season

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

es in advance of the 2011–12 season, the final of which was against

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

in a scoreless draw. Following the departure of

Andrew McNeil Andrew McNeil (born 19 January 1987 in Edinburgh) is a retired Scottish football goalkeeper who is currently the goalkeeping coach at Hong Kong Premier League club R&F (Hong Kong). McNeil was previously with Hibernian, for whom he played in ...

he became the regular back-up goalkeeper to David McGurn. However he suffered a setback, injuring his knee, with Raith having to sign

Ludovic Roy Ludovic Roy (born 18 August 1977) is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Roy spent his entire professional career in Scotland, most notably having started at St Mirren. Club career Early days Roy spent his yout ...

as a temporary replacement. After recovering from injury, Laidlaw made his senior debut on 3 March 2012, keeping a clean sheet in a 5–0 home victory against

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greeno ...

. On 22 January 2015, he joined

on loan. His last game for Elgin was in April 2015, a 5–4 defeat against Annan Athletic. Laidlaw returned to Raith after this loan spell, but failed to displace Kevin Cuthbert as first-choice goalkeeper. In December 2015 he suffered a torn kidney, which kept him out of action for the rest of the season. Laidlaw left Raith at the end of the 2015–16 season.

Hibernian

On 6 July 2016, Laidlaw signed a one-year contract with Hibernian. He made his first appearance for Hibernian in the second leg of a

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

qualifier against Brondby. Laidlaw kept a clean sheet as Hibs won 1–0 in the second leg, but were knocked out of the competition after a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

. Although he mainly served as a backup to

Ofir Marciano Ofir Meir Marciano (or Martziano, he, אופיר מרציאנו; born 7 October 1989) is an Israeli professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Israeli Premier League club Hapoel Be'er Sheva and the Israel national team. He started ...

during the 2016–17 season, Laidlaw made 18 first team appearances. He signed a two-year contract with Hibs in May 2017. Laidlaw temporarily took over as first choice goalkeeper in September, as Marciano missed one game due to him observing

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day's ...

. He injured a shoulder in November, and this eventually required surgery. Laidlaw returned to first-team training in June 2018. He made his first appearance since injury on 9 August, in a Europa League qualifier against

Molde Molde () is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord. The administrative centre of the m ...

. Laidlaw moved on loan to Championship club

in January 2019. In May 2019, Hibs announced that Laidlaw would be released at the end of the season.

Ross County

On 30 May 2019 Laidlaw signed for newly promoted

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

team Ross County on a two-year contract. On 13 July 2019, he made his debut for Ross County against Montrose in the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

. After winning Ross County’s player of the year award for the 2020-21 season Laidlaw signed a new two year contract with the club.On 3 January 2023 Laidlaw singled a three-and-a-half year contract keeping him at County until the summer of 2026.

Career statistics

Honours

Raith Rovers *

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,2013–14 Hibernian *

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

: 2016–17

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Laidlaw, Ross 1992 births Living people Scottish men's footballers Scottish Professional Football League players Scottish Football League players Raith Rovers F.C. players Elgin City F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Men's association football goalkeepers Footballers from Livingston, West Lothian Ross County F.C. players