Ross County were defeated 3-2 by Hamilton Accies in an entertaining encounter at New Douglas Park.
Accies had twice led through Dougie Imrie and Georgios Sarris, however levellers from Craig Curran and Kenny van der Weg looked to have secured a point for the visitors.
A late own goal from Jamie Lindsay ensured County returned home empty-handed, with late red cards for County’s Michael Gardyne and Accies defender Ioannis Skondras. The defeat leaves the Staggies second bottom with one win from their last nine games.
County made two changes from the side held to a 2-2 draw by Kilmarnock in midweek, with skipper Andrew Davies unable to shake off a calf injury, and Davis Keillor-Dunn dropping to the bench. Michael Gardyne returned from a dead leg, while Tim Chow was also drafted in.
Gardyne made an early impact, sending a fine cross-field ball into the path of fellow winger Chris Eagles, who lifted an effort into the side-netting.
County continued to dominate the early stages, with Jim O’Brien seeing a long-range strike comfortably held by former Staggies goalkeeper Gary Woods, before Kenny van der Weg nodded wide from an Eagles corner.
Accies first efforts of the opening 45 minutes came from the edge of the box, with Ioannis Skondras blasting a strike over, before Danny Redmond struck a first-time effort wide.
Striker Craig Curran came close to an opener when he struck marginally over after being teed up by Jamie Lindsay, while at the other end Greg Docherty’s header forced a fine save from Scott Fox.
Accies grabbed the lead on 28 minutes, in the face of strong protests from the Staggies as referee Gavin Duncan awarded what looked a soft penalty when Dougie Imrie went to ground under what looked like minimal contact from Michael Gardyne, with former Caley Thistle player Imrie sending Fox the wrong way.
County finished the half strongly as they looked for a response though, with Lindsay seeing a header saved by Woods and O’Brien and Eagles both narrowly off target with efforts from the edge of the box.
County started the second-half brightly, with Chow nodding wide and Routis firing inches over with a free-kick, but Fox was called into action at the other end to beat away substitute Antonio Rojano’s low effort following David Templeton’s flick-on.
County were awarded a penalty of their own and there was no protest on this occasion, as Rojano wiped out Gardyne. Curran’s initial effort was saved by Woods, but the Englishman was alert to tuck home the rebound and restore parity.
County found themselves behind again within only two minutes. A corner was not fully cleared, with Imrie returning the ball for Sarris to bundle home a header from close-range.
County showed a spirited response and equalised for a second time on 84 minutes, with Davis Keillor-Dunn’s corner bulleted home by the head of van der Weg on 84 minutes.
County were reduced to 10 men when Gardyne was shown a second yellow card for a challenge on Darian MacKinnon.
Just as County looked to have secured a point, Accies secured the winner with a minute to spare when Ali Crawford’s free-kick deflected into the net off Jamie Lindsay. Accies were also reduced to 10 men in stoppage time when Skondras was shown a straight red card following a melee between both sets of players, which also saw van der Weg and Sarris booked.
