Ross County’s trip to St Johnstone is unlikely to remain fresh in the memory by the time Premiership action resumes after the forthcoming international break.
A whirlwind start to the match, which saw both sides hit the woodwork within the opening 10 minutes, proved to be good as it got at McDiarmid Park.
It was a thoroughly underwhelming spectacle in which both teams cancelled each other out, with neither doing enough to win the match.
County once again looked resolute in defence, and will draw positives from their second clean sheet of the campaign.
Their much-changed attacking unit is still taking time to flourish, with Malky Mackay still searching for the cutting edge formula at the top end of the park.
County were in action for the first time in a fortnight, following the postponement of the previous weekend’s fixtures due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
The Staggies struck late to claim a 1-1 draw against Aberdeen last time out, with goalscorer William Akio among three players drafted into the side along with skipper Keith Watson and Kazeem Olaigbe. Yan Dhanda, Callum Johnson and Jordy Hiwula dropped out of the side.
County made the trip down the A9 with a strong record, having lost only one of their last 11 encounters with the Perth outfit.
Saints came within inches of putting that record under threat on six minutes when a neat move saw Melker Hallberg play Drey Wright down the right channel. His cutback found Stevie May in space just inside the box and although he did not get a clean connection on his strike, Ross Laidlaw was relieved to see it come back off the inside of the post.
Just three minutes later it was the Staggies who were denied by the woodwork. Akio found his way into the box with a marauding run inside from the right before he found Olaigbe, whose first time effort struck the underside of Remi Matthews’ crossbar.
Both sides struggled to live up to their promising early attacking intent in the remainder of the first half. Saints did marginally more probing, with Nicky Clark scooping over after being picked out by a Hallberg corner, while Jamie Murphy saw an effort blocked behind following a swift counter-attack.
The first half fizzled out to an underwhelming close, and both sides were also slow to get going after the break.
County forced Matthews into action for the first time on 56 minutes, with Alex Iacovitti working the ball to David Cancola, whose powerful strike from distance was well gathered by the Saints goalkeeper.
The game was lacking in inspiration, with Mackay making an effort to inject some much-needed spark into his side’s attacking play with a triple change on 66 minutes. Owura Edwards, Victor Loturi and Dhanda were introduced, with Watson, Cancola and Olaigbe withdrawn.
Akio had shown glimpses of promise throughout the afternoon without end product. A sublime piece of skill saw him drift past Alex Mitchell to bear down on the penalty box, however his attempted through ball carried too much weight for Jordan White to latch on to.
Mackay signalled his attacking intent for the latter stages, when he withdrew midfielder Jordan Tillson to make way for Dominic Samuel.
Although County’s own attacking build up had not amounted to much, they had faced precious little threat from Saints throughout the second half. The hosts’ first meaningful attempt after the break came on 77 minutes, when Hallberg sent a strike narrowly over Laidlaw’s bar from the edge of the box.
Saints came within a whisker of a late breakthrough when Edwards did well to block at the feet of Wright’s far post effort, with the ball breaking to Ali Crawford who angled a strike narrowly over.
County made a late push, with former Saints midfielder Ross Callachan seeing a low drive deflected behind, however referee Matthew MacDermid’s full-time whistle was greeted with widespread relief by the 3,355 strong crowd.
ST JOHNSTONE (3-4-1-2) – Matthews 6; Mitchell 6, Gordon 7, Considine 7; Wright 7, Hallberg 6, McGowan 5 (Davidson 76), Montgomery 5; Murphy 5 (Crawford 68), May 5 (McLennan 76), Clark 6. Subs not used – Parish, Bair, O’Halloran, Kucheriavyi, Brown, Moreland.
ROSS COUNTY (4-2-3-1) – Laidlaw 6; Watson 5 (Loturi 66), Baldwin 7, Iacovitti 7, Purrington 7; Tillson 5 (D Samuel 76), Cancola 5 (Dhanda 66); Akio 7 (Hiwula 89), Callachan 6, Olaigbe 6 (Edwards 66); White 6. Subs not used – Eastwood, Sims, Paton, Smith.
Referee – Matthew MacDermid 6
Attendance – 3,355
Man of the match: William Akio
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