MATCH PREVIEW | St Johnstone v Ross County

It’s ‘back on the road’ for Ross County this weekend with a trip to Perth in the off-ing to face St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.

TEAM NEWS

Alex Samuel, Connor Randall & George Harmon remain side-lined for Malky Mackay’s squad.

The three are the only injuries facing a County squad that are otherwise at full strength. Given last weekend’s break, William Akio has also had another full week of training under his belt following a return to the squad against Aberdeen two weeks ago.

LAST SEASON

Ross County failed to lose to the hosts last season taking 7 points from a possible 9 in three meeting with St Johnstone. Malky Mackay would make his managerial debut in the cinch Premiership with a 0-0 draw in Dingwall against St Johnstone in July before claiming two further victories over Callum Davidson’s side in 2021/22.

A meeting of the two sides just 3 days before Christmas at McDiarmid Park would see a 2-1 win for County. Regan Charles-Cook fired The Staggies ahead before Jack Butterfield drew the Perth Saints level. A 69^th minute strike from Ross Callachan would ensure it was a ‘Happy Christmas’ for the County faithful.

The final meeting of the season would come in February. Callum Hendry had given Ross County a scare when he opened the scoring 24 minutes in but Regan Charles-Cook finished off a wonderful 24 pass move to equalise before claiming his second of the match just 8 minutes in to the second half with an acrobatic finish. Joseph Hungbo would seal a 3-1 victory with a powerful drive just after the hour mark.

THIS OPPOSITION

St Johnstone don’t seem to do draws so far this season. Of their 6 league matches the Perth Saints have won two and lost four and currently sit with two points more than County on the board.

Their last league outing saw Callum Davidson’s side notch an impressive 3-0 win over St Mirren with 3 summer signings doing the damage for St Johnstone. Nicky Clark, Drey Wright and Graham Carey all getting on the scoresheet. Their previous league victory came at Fir Park against Motherwell on Matchday 2.

In three of the four defeats suffered by St Johnstone, they have only lost by a one goal margin (Hibs 1-0, Aberdeen 1-0 and Hearts 3-2) which illustrates how tough a challenge Saturdays match will be.

ATTENDING THE MATCH

Tickets for this match are available ONLINE ONLY by CLICKING HERE.

• Disabled/ambulant supporters must be in receipt of PIP/DLA and will be asked to verify this when purchasing online.

• Personal assistant tickets cannot be added to an order without the age appropriate ambulant disabled ticket being added first.

• U12 tickets cannot be purchased without an adult/concession ticket (max 2 x U12 per order), the adult/concession ticket must be added first.