Ross County slipped to bottom spot in the Scottish Premiership with a goalless draw with seventh-placed Motherwell.
The Staggies now have a real fight on their hands to secure their Premiership status after they dropped to 12th in the table following wins for Dundee and Partick Thistle.
Ross County came into the match unchanged from the side that drew 1-1 with Hibernian, while Motherwell, on the back of reaching the Scottish Cup final last week, also stuck with the same line-up that defeated Aberdeen 3-0.
Motherwell gathered the best of the early chances with Alan Campbell forcing a save out of Scott Fox from 25 yards after two minutes.
The early pressure from Motherwell continued with Ryan Bowman blocking a clearance from the nervy Fox at the expense of a goal kick.
The Staggies had chances of their own in the early stages. A testing cross from Billy Mckay was turned behind by Trevor Carson with the Motherwell goalkeeper collecting the resultant corner.
Both sides were forced into early changes with County’s Christopher Routis replaced by Jason Naismith after 17 minutes before Motherwell’s Carl McHugh was introduced for the injured Andrew Rose on the 21-minute mark.
A driving run from Michael Gardyne after 19 minutes almost created a decisive opportunity for County but his pass fell agonisingly short of his team-mates.
County found the target after 27 minutes as centre-back Harry Souttar picked out an Alex Schalk corner but his effort was held by Carson.
A late flurry of chances in the first half began with Curtis Main going closest with a left-footed effort from 20 yards, finding only the side-netting of Scott Fox’s goal.
Alex Schalk blazed over from 25 yards before County squandered a golden opportunity as the first half wound to a close.
Schalk’s deft header placed the ball into the path of McKay inside the Motherwell box. The striker failed to dig out a shooting opportunity but was able to slip the ball to team-mate Marcus Fraser but his drive from 12 yards was blocked by the onrushing Charles Dunne.
The second half began in a rather sluggish fashion. Motherwell forced a corner after 60 minutes when Chris Cadden’s inviting cross was headed over his own crossbar by Souttar.
From the resultant corner Cadden’s deep delivery, knocked down by McHugh at the back post, was cleared by Melbourne.
Ryan Bowman went close for Motherwell on the 66-minute mark with his goal-bound snap shot tipped round the post by Fox.
Main found himself unmarked inside the County box but he couldn’t make a clear connection and his header trickled wide of the County goal.
The Motherwell forward then dragged a left-footed half-chance wide of the County goal on 85 minutes as both sides pushed for the winner.
County broke up the other end but Schalk’s drive from the right flew over crossbar and nestled in the Jail End Stand.
