First team
Match Report | RCFC 0-0 St Johnstone
31/07/2021
Ross County held domestic cup double winners St Johnstone to a point on the opening day of the cinch Premiership season at the Global Energy Stadium.
Malky MacKay pinched a draw from his first league match in charge of County after Ali McCann blazed his 70th minute penalty over the crossbar in a very cagey first encounter.
MacKay’s refreshed Staggies looked to get on the front foot from the start and found the first 2 half-chances in the match through headers from Keith Watson and Regan Charles-Cook. Calum Davidson’s side then started to find their rhythm and dominate the ball as the match edged closer to half time.
However, it was County who came closest to manufacturing an opener in the first half. In the 36th minute, Coll Donaldson stepped forward from defence to pick out the forward run of new signing Ross Callachan. The former Saints midfielder broke beyond the opposition defence to latch onto Donaldson’s ball before flashing his resulting right-footed inches wide of Zander Clark’s right post.
The half faded to a close with both sides still clearing off the pre-season cobwebs in their opening league fixture. The Staggies enjoyed an explosive start before St Johnstone eventually took control of proceedings midway through the half.
The beginning of the second half mirrored the uneventful first period with both sides struggling to create any obvious goalscoring opportunities.
Yet with 20 minutes to go, the fixture suddenly burst into life. In complete contrast to a very mellow opening 70 minutes, a culmination of late challenges, lenient refereeing and spectator heckles led to a fiery finish to the match.
In the 70th minute, St Johnstone were handed golden opportunity to take the lead when Colin Steven awarded a penalty to the visitors. A diagonal ball had successfully turned the County defence and picked out Reece Devine on the left-hand side of the box. Devine done well to keep the ball in play before running into the stationary Coll Donaldson and tumbling to the floor. The referee then pointed to the spot, but County breathed a sigh of relief when Northern Irish international Ali McCann ballooned his subsequent spot kick over the bar.
St Johnstone stepped up their efforts and continued to probe for a goal with the introduction of Liam Craig, Stevie May and Chris Kane to the match. The attacking changes almost provided immediate justification when Stevie May watched his guided right-footed attempt from the edge of the box meet the outstretched glove of Ross Laidlaw in the 84th minute. Laidlaw’s impressive save was parried towards Liam Craig but the veteran midfielder’s sliding attempt to convert the rebound crashed against the post from close range.
Malky MacKay’s Staggies then held on to share the points with the Perth Saints in the new boss’s first league fixture in charge in the Highlands. Despite a lack of attacking innovation in the final third, County looked determined and assured in defence as they restricted the opposition to very few clear chances.
Saints will now look forward to their glamour tie against European giants Galatasaray as they get their Europa League qualifying campaign underway on Thursday night. County will now focus on next week’s trip to Easter Road to build on a first positive point on the board for the 2021/22 season.
