Iain Vigurs’ moment of brilliance ensured Ross County left Falkirk with a point as they drew 1-1.
In a game the Dingwall outfit had dominated, they had found themselves behind to a Don Cowie own-goal before Vigurs’ masterful 78th minute equaliser.
It means they head into Saturday’s Highland derby in second place, with Ayr United winning 3-0 at home to Alloa.
County were unchanged from the 5-0 win over Morton at the weekend, while Ray McKinnon dropped Marcus Haber, Ruben Sammut, Prince Buaben and Tom Dallison for Falkirk. Lewis Kidd, Thomas Robson, Joe McKee and Andrew Irving were drafted in for the bottom-placed side.
The visitors dominated the ball in the opening 20 minutes and reduced the Falkirk Stadium to a hush, with navy blue jerseys struggling to see the ball.
Josh Mullin dragged a shot wide for County’s first shot of note, however their football was a joy to watch at times as their midfield dominated the middle of the field.
In their first real sight of goal, Falkirk passed up the chance to test Scott Fox as Deimantas Petravicius’ cross was too far in front of Zak Rudden.
Stelios Demetriou played his part in two County chances in the space of a minute – crossing for Billy Mckay to head over and then beating everyone with a ball into the box that Mitchell had to palm away.
Somewhat by surprise, the Bairns took the lead on 25 minutes when Petravicius beat Demetriou to the byline and centred, with Cowie beating everyone to the ball and planting a header past his own goalkeeper.
County continued to control possession but were not testing Mitchell enough, with his save from Mckay with his feet the closest they came before the break. They were vulnerable to the counter when Falkirk could get out, with Petravicius again delivering from the left but this time the cross was behind Paul Paton.
Ross Draper powered a header straight at Mitchell at the start of the second period and Keillor-Dunn blasted over, as the Staggies sought a route back into the game.
Defender Keith Watson deflected a Sean Kelly volley into Mitchell’s clutches just after the hour, with Falkirk’s number 12 proving the barrier to County finding a leveller.
It finally came with 12 minutes to go as Vigurs picked his spot from the edge of the box, curling a delightful effort beyond Mitchell via the inside of the post.
