Ross County’s late victory in this thrilling encounter means the Staggies’ Highland rivals Caley Thistle continue to hang by a thread in pursuit of Premiership safety.
The result was enough to move County into seventh place above Saturday’s final-day opponents Kilmarnock, although all eyes were on whether the Lanarkshire side could relegate Inverness with a victory at Dingwall.
Accies twice came from behind, with Michael Gardyne’s stunning early strike and Remi Matthews’ own goal cancelled out by Rakish Bingham and David Templeton.
The Lanarkshire men had their moments, twice hitting the woodwork, however Jonathan Franks’ late winner came to the huge relief of Caley Jags, who can reignite hope of survival with a win at Dundee on Wednesday.
The possibility of Inverness being relegated brought an added dimension to County’s final home game of the season, in which supporters of both clubs were given free entry thanks to a fine gesture from Staggies chairman Roy MacGregor, and the offers was met by an excellent response from the home faithful.
While supporters of Caley Jags anxiously sought news of this match, the mood was far more relaxed amongst the County faithful after the Dingwall men secured their Premiership status for the sixth successive season with Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Dundee.
The security of County’s position allowed Jim McIntyre to shake things up, making five changes. Andrew Davies, Ryan Dow, Jim O’Brien, Craig Curran and Martin Woods dropped out, with Kenny van der Weg, Reghan Tumilty, Christopher Routis and Alex Schalk in, along with Jonathan Franks who made his first start since October.
The Staggies made the perfect start, hitting the ascendancy right from the off and rewarded with a stunning lead on two minutes. Christopher Routis picked out the untracked Gardyne with a short corner, which the wide player controlled before curling a sublime shot into Remi Matthews’ top left-hand corner. An early strike that came to the great satisfaction of the onlooking Caley Jags supporters.
The goal put Accies in a desperate situation of their own, however their response nearly brought about a leveller when Dougie Imrie skipped past Tumilty before seeing his near post shot beaten clear by Scott Fox.
County looked threatening when they hit their stride though, with Louis Longridge and Darian MacKinnon both making their way into the book for halting promising Staggies breakaways, before Franks saw his controlled volley from the edge of the box trickle just wide on 19 minutes.
The lead only lasted until the 27th minute however, when a free-kick from Accies’ main source of danger, Ali Crawford, was knocked across goal by Alex Gogic before being prodded home from close-range by Bingham.
The Staggies were dealt another blow moments later when the lively Gardyne hobbled off after appearing to land awkwardly on his ankle. His replacement, Martin Woods, ought to have scored only seconds after his introduction, but he dragged wide from 12 yards after receiving Routis’ cutback.
County somehow managed to survive a flurry of Hamilton attempts on 34 minutes, with Fox initially pushing Imrie’s cross straight out to Crawford, before the goalkeeper recovered brilliantly to save the midfielder’s follow-up attempt. The ball was only partially cleared as far as MacKinnon, whose threaded pass set up Bingham, with the attacker the width of Fox’s left-hand post away from doubling his and Accies’ tally.
The Lanarkshire side were somehow kept out by the woodwork for a second time on 43 minutes when Crawford this time went himself from a free-kick, with his superbly struck effort striking the inside of the post before coming back across the goal-line without landing in the net.
Woods’ role in the match proved to be a short-lived one, with Jim O’Brien coming on in his place at the start of the second-half. It had been an excellent end to the half for Martin Canning’s men, but County came close to regaining their lead straight from the kick-off when O’Brien played a ball over the top for Tumilty, who saw his effort from a narrow angle cut out by Matthews.
Accies sensed the urgency of their own situation however, with Crawford causing more problems when he saw his strike deflected wide by Marcus Fraser.
County spurned a chance of their own on 58 minutes when Routis showed lovely close control to work his way into a shooting position before bizarrely opting to square the ball to Franks, who lashed his effort well over.
The Staggies defence was forced into another scramble just after the hour-mark however, with Greg Docherty seeing his shot blocked by Fox, before Ioannis Skondras had his follow-up effort blocked wide by Tim Chow.
County profited from a slice of luck for the goal that put them back ahead on 73 minutes, as O’Brien’s powerful strike from the edge of the box cannoned off the inside of the post before bouncing off the back of Matthews and landing in the net.
The home side could only hold on to the advantage for less than two minutes though, with Accies substitute Templeton weaving in from the right before striking powerfully past Fox to pull it all square again.
Just as it looked like fizzling out into a stalemate, Franks struck a superb volleyed effort into the bottom corner to secure the victory. Over to Inverness.
