Ross County boss John Hughes thinks his side should’ve taken all three points from their post-split opener at Kilmarnock.
The entertaining contest finished 2-2, with County twice conceding soft goals and twice equalising through Michael Gardyne and Alex Iacovitti.
The Staggies were undeniably the better side, with Gardyne, Ross Draper and Jordan White spurning further chances which could’ve seen them win the game.
Regardless, the result kept County 10th in the Premiership, one point ahead of Killie and three better off than bottom side Hamilton, who lost 1-0 to Dundee United.
Hughes said: “I thought we could’ve got more, but saying that, we’ve got big Ross Laidlaw to thank for the save in the last minute (from Chris Burke).
“But I think we created the better chances – Draper should’ve scored, Gardyne should’ve scored, we hit the woodwork.
“We played some nice football, so I’m a little bit disappointed to go up the road with only a point.
“But we gave ourselves a mountain to climb with that goal early doors and then, once we’re back into it, conceded another soft goal from our point of view.
“I said to them at half-time: ‘in the second half, let’s keep a clean sheet and you’ll go and win the game’.
“I was confident we could create chances and win the game. I think we done enough in the second half to do that, and just couldn’t get the ball in the net.
“But we got one, we’ll take the point, it keeps us in front of Kilmarnock and it’s all to play for.
“It was a great game of football, exciting, and I see a team who are battling to stay in the league.”
There was a moment of controversy at Rugby Park, when – at 2-2 – Staggies skipper Iain Vigurs was forced off following a blow to the face from Killie striker Kyle Lafferty’s arm.
Referee Willie Collum booked the Northern Irish forward over the incident, but the County players thought he should’ve seen red.
On the Lafferty-Vigurs incident, Hughes added: “I never seen it, so I can’t comment on that, but Vigurs has a lot of blood on his nose.
“Iain felt it was enough for a red card, but I can’t comment on that.
“It’s part and parcel of football. There was another one where (Jermaine) Hylton got a whack and he was feeling sorry for himself.
“You just get on with it. I think it was a flailing arm, but I’m not going to point the finger of blame or anything.”
