First team

Match Preview | St Johnstone v RCFC

19/03/2021

Ross County will travel to Perth this weekend to face the in-form St Johnstone who are bidding for a top-half finish.

After County and Hamilton both lost their games in hand last weekend, the relegation fight has stepped up and the Staggies are in desperate need of a big 3 points to distance themselves from the Accies and Kilmarnock at the plummet of the Scottish Premiership.

Opposition Focus

St Johnstone currently occupy 7th position in the Scottish Premiership and can still secure a top half finish if they defeat Ross County, provided that St Mirren fail to win away at Hamilton Accies on Saturday.

Callum Davidson’s much improved St Johnstone side were crowned Scottish League Cup champions last month and are undefeated in their last 4 matches.

In fact, the Perth Saints have not lost to a club outside of the Old Firm since they were defeated by Aberdeen on Boxing Day.

The Scottish Premiership form league table (based on 5 last matches) places St Johnstone in 2nd position, only just behind newly crowned champions, Rangers.

They have also scored more goals and conceded less than any other team in the bottom half of the table and will be looking to finally break into the top half for the first time since September!

Guy Melhamed and Stevie May are joint-top scorers for the Saints in the Scottish Premiership season, but the latter has failed to net a goal in his 14 matches. However, the goals have been shared amongst the group; 15 different players have all found the back of the net in all competitions this season. Only Livingston, Hibernian, Celtic and Rangers can boast more variety in their goal scorers this season.

Ross County Focus

The Staggies remain in 10th place after last week’s controversial defeat to Hibernian. John Hughes’ side are 3 points above Hamilton in 11th place and 4 points clear of Kilmarnock in 12th.

Last weekend’s defeat to Hibernian denied County the chance to increase their cushion over their 2 relegation rivals, but with Hamilton losing and Kilmarnock not in action, the bottom of the Scottish Premiership remained unmoved.

The Staggies are 7 matches unbeaten against St Johnstone and have not lost to the Saints since a 2-0 defeat at McDiarmid Park over 3 years ago.

County have never faced any other Scottish Premiership side more times than Saturday’s opponents. The 2 sides have met 56 times, with the first meeting dating back to 1998 when the Perth side ran out 2-0 winners in a friendly match in Dingwall.

Of those 56 meetings, a remarkable 23 of them have ended in a draw and Ross County have never drawn more matches against any other club in their history.

Staggies defender Keith Watson is the only man in either squad to have played for both clubs. Watson joined County from the Perth club in 2018 and has since gone on to make 76 appearances thus far.

Last Match

Ross County were held to a point by St Johnstone at the Global Energy Stadium in their last encounter in December. Ross Draper put County ahead in the first half shortly before Craig Conway equalised for the visitors from the penalty spot.

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