Despite having the lion's share of the possession, County went down 1-0 to St Johnstone as the Perth team recorded their second victory over the Staggies this season. With Derek's team looking for revenge over the team that had ended the defence of the Challenge Cup earlier in the season, he fielded an unchanged starting 11 from the 6-1 drubbing of Alloa at the weekend. Despite a tremendous first half performance from the home team, the Super J's took what proved to be a decisive lead after 12 minutes following an opportunist finish from Liam Craig following a mis-hit clearance from Tony Bullock.
Despite several close chances in both halves - most notably hitting the woodwork and seeing the follow-up cleared off the line in a single move - County were unable to capitalise on their possession with St Johnstone happy to defend in numbers and rely on long balls right from the kick-off. St Johnstone Manger Derek McInnes admitted after the match that they had given Ross County a lot of respect, as having heard the reports from the game against Alloa they were more than aware that given the opportunity County were more than capable of hurting his team.
The result, although disappointing, shows that County can compete with a top First Division side and leaves the team free to focus on gaining promotion out of the Second Division to ensure that they are given the chance to prove that week in, week out next season.
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