ANALYSIS: Ross County looking to maintain recent upper hand in key head-to-head battle with St Johnstone

By Andy Skinner

September 14 2022, 5:00 pm

Ross Callachan celebrates netting the winner for Ross County against St Johnstone last season.

Recent margins have been fine between Ross County and St Johnstone but the Staggies have the edge ahead of Saturday’s McDiarmid Park encounter.

County make the trip to Perth having claimed seven points from a possible nine against Callum Davidson’s men last season.

The two sides shared a 0-0 draw on the opening day of the campaign, in Malky Mackay’s first league game in charge of the Dingwall outfit.

It could have been a different story with Saints midfielder Ali McCann blazing over a second half penalty for the then freshly-crowned domestic cup double winners.

The Staggies went on to claim victory in the subsequent two matches between the sides, starting with a 2-1 win in Perth in December.

Regan Charles-Cook’s opener was quickly cancelled out by Jacob Butterfield but the points were sealed by Ross Callachan – who had missed a penalty for the Staggies earlier in the game.

That was followed up by a 3-1 home victory for County when the sides last met in February. Callum Hendry put Saints ahead but the Highlanders triumphed courtesy of a Charles-Cook double and a Joseph Hungbo strike.

County ultimately went on to finish sixth in the Premiership last term, with St Johnstone ending in 11th spot and securing their survival with a play-off victory over Caley Thistle.

In spite of that, there was only a six-point difference between the sides come the end of the campaign.

The Staggies’ upper-hand in the fixture stretches beyond last season, having only lost one of the last 11 meetings between the sides.

That came in March 2021 when a late Glenn Middleton goal secured Saints a top-half finish and kept County firmly in a relegation battle.

Iain Vigurs in action for Ross County against St Johnstone.

During that sequence County have won a further two games, both of which coming at McDiarmid Park.

They secured a 2-1 League Cup group stage triumph in July 2019 when Billy Mckay’s double overturned an early Scott Tanser penalty.

Ross County’s Billy McKay applauds the fans at full time following a 2-1 win over St Johnstone in the League Cup.

Nearly two years ago, an Iain Vigurs free-kick sealed a narrow 1-0 victory in what proved to be Stuart Kettlewell’s final league win.

With the sides having shared six draws in the last four years however, it has clearly been a tightly-contested encounter.

Saints go into this weekend’s game two points ahead of County, albeit just six matches into the campaign.

Given the close-fought nature of the fixture in recent times, this could be a key head-to-head battle for both sides – which the Staggies will be determined to come out on top in once again.