Ross County 0-0 St Johnstone: John Robertson reaction as illness-struck Staggies hold Championship leaders

Interim Ross County boss John Robertson praised his heroic players for digging deep amid a sickness bug to hold league leaders St Johnstone.

After watching the basement side hold the Championship front-runners to a 0-0 draw for the second time this season, it was clear that this was up there with the best County displays of a dreadful season so far.

The result means the distance of the table and 29 points still separate these teams who dropped down from the Premiership in May.

County remain adrift in 10th position and are still five points below Queen’s Park and Airdrieonians after 19 fixtures.

Saints maintain their five-point lead over title rivals Partick Thistle, who drew 2-2 with Queen’s Park.

This was Robertson’s second game in charge since the departure of manager Tony Docherty and it was a performance full of heart and spirit against the division’s best team.

Sickness bug causing boss concern

You would never have known County were down in numbers and players stepping up amid illness and injury, but Robertson detailed the challenges they faced.

He said: “Declan Gallagher was in his bed for three days.

“He trained for an hour on Friday and said he would be okay for the bench if we needed him.

“Alex Iacovitti pulled out with an injury, so Declan stepped in to play.

“Dylan Smith was sick before, during and after the game. He wanted to play. The doctor checked him and his temperature was okay, or borderline, and he went out and showed the commitment we needed.

“Every single player, to a man, was incredible.

“We were down to the bare bones. Dylan was sweating up a bit and told by the doctors to maybe stay away, but he said he could play.

“We’ve sent him away now and we’ll monitor it with staff. We may have to shut the place down to try and keep it at bay.

“It has gone through our younger players through the week. There’s a lot going about and in the football environment it can get nasty when it takes hold.

“Kieran Phillips and Scott Fraser looked shocking earlier in the week.

“We had two 16-year-olds (Joe Coyle and Greg Ferguson) on the bench.”

‘Willingness to never give up’

Robertson, whose side travel to fifth-placed Dunfermline Athletic on Saturday, said every County player delivered what was asked of them.

He added: “We spoke last week about having trust and belief in one another and they absolutely did.

“We felt at the start of the week that wasn’t the case.

“We had a very strong team meeting but they trained unbelievably hard on Monday and then on Tuesday it was the best fitness session they had and that showed today.

“They showed they could give everything they have got.

“We then let them spend time with their families for Christmas.

“Yesterday, we worked on our shape.

“It was about our willingness to never give up.

“They put their bodies on the line for one another and created three great chances to take the lead.

“Our first bit of luck all year came when they hit the post in the last minute.

“Today our lads earned all that luck.

“The amount of tackles they put in, the chasing they did, yet we still had the awareness and composure to create good chances.”

Positive signs in goalless first half

The hosts made just one change from the starting XI which slipped to a 2-0 defeat here against Arbroath last week, with Dylan Smith replacing Alex Iacovitti in the back line.

Simon Valakari made one change to his line-up from the St Johnstone team which posted a 5-0 rout over Morton, as Jack Baird came in from Sam Stanton.

The opening 15 minutes were nip and tuck, with Saints asking most of the questions, albeit were mopping up the set-pieces comfortably.

Home striker Jordan White clipped a shot just wide of the right post after he was picked out by Jamie Lindsay, who was showing up well with some telling tackles and passes.

St Johnstone continued to rack up free-kicks in decent positions and Jamie Gullan flashed a 25-yarder just to the left of goalkeeper Trevor Carson’s post on the half hour mark.

There was a good tempo from County too though and it required an important block from goalkeeper Toby Steward to deny impressive and energetic on-loan Aberdeen midfielder Ryan Duncan, who got his shot on target from a Ronan Hale cut-back on 36 minutes.

A save by Carson from Josh McPake on the cusp of the interval ensured that the impressive work from County counted for something going into their team talk with Robertson.

End-to-end action but no goals

Inside the first two minutes of the second half, Carson was called into action when he superbly pushed another net-bound McPake drive over the top after the Perth side came out on the front foot, shooting towards their 700 fans.

County’s Connor Randall, who had been booked in the first half and escaped a red card after that, was lucky to survive it again after he brought McPake to ground. That point was made to referee Sean Murdoch by several Saints players.

From the free-kick, Carson saved it and kept the pressure off his goal.

With Staggies skipper Declan Gallagher picking up a game-ending hamstring injury, Robertson turned to new signing, ex-Crystal Palace midfielder Jack Wells Morrison to fill the void, with no other defenders on the bench.

That was probably the reason Randall was still not taken off by Robertson.

With 20 minutes to go, Hale’s header from 12 yards drew a save from Steward when he met a deep cross from lively winger Henderson, who had switched to the left to take a corner moments earlier.

County left-back Len O’Sullivan then came to his team’s rescue, vitally cutting out an Adam Forrester effort.

It was still an absorbing end-to-end game though, with the stakes high for both teams in this year-ending clash.

Carson again ensured it remained 0-0 with eight minutes to go when he leapt to push away a searing long-ranger from McPake.

St Johnstone came even closer in the final minute when Adama Sidibeh saw his drive come back off the post, with Carson rooted to the spot this time.

Ross County v St Johnstone ratings

ROSS COUNTY (4-3-3): Carson 8, Randall 6, Gallagher 7 (Wells Morrison 62), Smith 6, O’Sullivan 7, Lindsay 7, Docherty 7, Duncan 7 (Scott 90), Henderson 6 (Thomson 77), White 6, Hale 6.

Subs not used: Laidlaw (GK), Foster (GK), Mackay-Steven, Coyle, Ferguson.

ST JOHNSTONE (3-4-3): Steward 7, Diabate 6, Baird 6, Boyes 6, Smith 6 (Fotheringham 81), McAlear 6 (Stanton 66), Holt 6, Forrester 6 (Foulds 81), Sidibeh 6, Gullan 7 (Mallan 81), McPake 8.

Subs not used: Sinclair (GK), Griffith, Svedberg, Lloyd, Mallan, Sprangler.

Referee: Sean Murdoch.

Attendance: 3,427.

Man of the match: Trevor Carson.

[Source: Press and Journal]