Ross County and Aberdeen forced to settle for a share of the Premiership spoils after Ross Callachan cancels out a Jonny Hayes opener under the lights in Dingwall
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Ross County 1 (Callachan)
Aberdeen 1 (Hayes)
Ross County and Aberdeen cancelled each other out as they each had to settle for a share of the spoils in Dingwall.
Just minutes after the restart Aberdeen took the lead through Jonny Hayes, but after Ross Callachan equalised with a volley in the 53rd minute neither goalkeeper would have felt particularly troubled.
Malky Mackay made three changes to his starting 11, with Ashley Maynard-Brewer and Jack Baldwin dropping out of the squad altogether while Harry Paton started on the bench, with Ross Laidlaw, Keith Watson and Dominic Samuel taking their respective places.
For the second match in-a-row, the Staggies were up against a winger who signed late in the January transfer window making his debut for his new club.
Although Vicente Besuijen did show flashes of quality with some good ball control under pressure, he was not able to have the same sort of impact that Amad Diallo did in Dingwall last Saturday lunchtime.
It was the visitors who created the better chances to score, though.
Early on Laidlaw had to make a save when Lewis Ferguson headed Calvin Ramsay's free kick towards goal, and crosses into the box seemed to be the Dons' main route to goal.
Other than that, they were limited to efforts from long range, where none of Dylan McGeouch, Funso Ojo or Ferguson were able to really test the Staggies keeper.
For their part, there were spells when County had far more of the possession, but they struggled to work an opening at the other end of the pitch.
The closest they really came to breaking the deadlock was on a counter attack, with the ball sprayed out to the right flank where Regan Charles-Cook charged into the box, and though his ball across the face of goal was blocked it took a Scott Brown clearance to prevent Jordan White's admittedly weak effort going in once it had beaten Joe Lewis.
It felt like it might take a goal to kick the game into life, and it went Aberdeen's way three minutes after the restart.
Scott Brown released Jonny Hayes into space down the left wing, and with very little support up the pitch with him he went on his own – picking out the far corner with a little help from the inside of the box.
It was very nearly two just afterwards, as Vicente Besuijen forced Laidlaw into a full-stretch save, but the visiting lead would not last long.
Regan Charles-Cook tried to cut inside and shoot with his right foot, but when that effort was blocked the ball sat up nicely for Ross Callachan to volley into the bottom corner to equalise in the 53rd minute.
After such a lively start to the second half, the game fell back into the pattern of the first – Aberdeen looking the more likely to score, and County occasionally showing glimpses of their quality.
Laidlaw was certainly the busier of the two keepers, saving from Hayes and Christian Ramirez, as the Dons went in search of a winner in the last 10 minutes.
Like their opponents, County did try to feed passes through at times, but they were mostly in vain.
Harry Paton came closest with a shot after impressively controlling Connor Randall's cross from the right, but there would be no late drama as the full time whistle went with the scores still level.
Ross County: Laidlaw, Vokins, Callachan, D Samuel, Watson, Iacovitti, Charles-Cook, Ramsay (Randall 46), Tillson, Hungbo (H Paton 67), White.
Subs not used: Munro, A Samuel, Drysdale, Wright, MacKinnon.
Aberdeen: Lewis, McCrorie, Brown, Ramirez, Besuijen, McGeouch (Jenks 68), Ojo (MacKenzie 81), Hayes, Ferguson, Ramsay, Bates.
Subs not used: Woods, Gallagher, Montgomery, Emmanuel-Thomas, Campbell, Ruth, Kennedy.
Referee: Alan Muir
Attendance: 3343 (987)
Yellow cards: Ross County – D Samuel (26), Tillson (42), Hungbo (51), Charles-Cook (58), H Paton (69); Aberdeen – Hayes (57), Brown (67), Ferguson (86).
