Ross County will be bottom of the Premiership throughout the winter break after Partick Thistle leapfrogged the Staggies with a 2-0 win at Firhill.
The two sides went into the game level on 17 points and for the most part it was a cagey affair sorely lacking in quality.
The game’s decisive moment came 10 minutes before half-time however, with a costly blunder from Staggies skipper Andrew Davies allowing Kris Doolan to score, with Conor Sammon adding a late second goal to seal the points.
The result means County are now three points adrift at the foot of the table, with their next league game not until they travel to Motherwell on January 24.
It means Owen Coyle’s men have now gone nine games without a victory, stretching back to a 3-2 triumph over Motherwell on November 4, with the Staggies manager certain to freshen up his squad to help the battle against relegation.
Despite the poor form, County were looking to pick up from where they left off, having finished strongly to come from behind and claim a point in their 1-1 draw against St Johnstone on Wednesday.
There were three changes by Coyle, with Jamie Lindsay and Billy Mckay restored after impressing in the second-half against Saints, and Sean Kelly recalled in defence. Craig Curran, Kenny van der Weg and Chris Eagles dropped to the bench. Davies, who had been doubtful with a knee injury, was fit to take his place in the line-up, with Coyle electing to go with a 3-5-2 formation.
Both sides were eager to avoid finishing the year bottom of the table, but the Staggies thought they had made the perfect start when they had the ball in the net on 12 minutes, only for Kelly’s strike to be ruled offside after Davies had made a slight connection with Michael Gardyne’s free-kick.
Thistle, who had the inferior goal difference, were also eager for the points, and former Caley Thistle and Aberdeen forward Miles Storey offered their first threat on 15 minutes with a drilled low effort that was well held by Scott Fox.
Both defences were doing well to limit each other’s threat, with the Staggies producing another attempt on 23 minutes when Gardyne played in Alex Schalk for a strike from the edge of the box, however the effort was well off target.
With nothing in the game whatsoever, it was an almighty, yet uncharacteristic blunder from Davies which gifted the Jags the lead on 35 minutes. The Englishman was caught out with a short pass back towards Fox, which allowed Doolan to nip in, round the goalkeeper and stroke into the empty net.
It was a horrible moment for Davies but he had the ideal opportunity to atone just three minutes when his run was picked out perfectly by Gardyne’s corner, however the defender thumped his free header wide of Tomas Cerny’s goal.
Thistle had a great chance to all but seal the points on 51 minutes when substitute Conor Sammon wriggled free of Marcus Fraser to get a shot away, but Fox did well to get down and squirm the ball away from danger, with Doolan lurking in wait.
County were determined to fight back though, and came close when Fox’s long ball picked out Naismith, whose early delivery was just missed by the run of Schalk.
Coyle shook up his side after 57 minutes, with Kelly and Mckay making way for Davis Keillor-Dunn and Curran. It was Fox who was required to make an excellent save to keep his side in the game on 69 minutes though, blocking Sammon’s low shot with his legs after the attacker had been played in by a delightful pass from Andrew McCarthy.
County struggled to find a way through a resolute Thistle backline, with Keillor-Dunn flashing a drive wide from long-range after being teed up by Gardyne on 74 minutes. Coyle’s final throw of the dice came a minute later, when Gardyne made way for Eagles.
Another lapse from Davies nearly allowed in Doolan on 78 minutes when the skipper headed the ball straight into the goalscorer’s path, but his curling shot drifted wide of Fox’s right-hand post.
The Dingwall men pushed for a leveller, with Lindsay heading straight at Cerny, however the crucial second goal came on the break on 86 minutes, with Sammon weaving in from the left before bending a powerful strike past Fox to send County north empty-handed, and in need of a big turnaround in the latter part of the campaign.
