Late Lindsay goals seals draw for Ross County
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Ross County 1 (Lindsay)
Dundee United 1 (Safranko)
Ross County were far from their best but managed to salvage a draw against Dundee United to maintain their gap at the top of the Scottish Championship.
Both teams had moments of pressure going forward in the first half, but it was mostly United who were controlling the game.
Their man advantage in the middle of the park paid dividends, as Jamie Lindsay and Lewis Spence were overran too often for the Staggies' liking.
Most efforts at goal were blocked by defenders, but Pavol Safranko did manage to find the net to give the visitors the lead.
Scott Fox was put under pressure but did manage to get the ball away to Andy Boyle, whose poor touch gave the ball away.
United's Slovakian international took full advantage of that error when he received the ball inside the box, smashing it past Fox and into the top corner.
After the interval neither side managed to string a few passes together, with the match resembling head tennis for the first 10 minutes.
The visitors did create the first chance of note however, with Safranko playing Paul McMullan through – but he blazed his effort over the bar.
Even though County's play improved with the introductions of Don Cowie and Michael Gardyne, sights of goal were still few and far between.
United's high pressing made it difficult for them to pass the ball forward, even when they would have been looking to up the intensity as the match drew to a close with them still a goal behind.
McMullan's pace caused the Staggies defence all sorts of problems, and he got in behind once again to strike the post in the 77th minute.
Josh Mullin had a golden opportunity to level the scores with around five minutes left on the clock when Brian Graham rounded the keeper and cut back to him, but trying to pick his spot carefully with two defenders on the line Mullin could only drag the ball wide.
The Staggies did get their equaliser at the start of injury time though.
Gardyne shot across the face of goal only to see his effort saved, but it fell to Ross Stewart who teed up Jamie Lindsay to finish.
The point sees Ross County stay five points ahead of United with a game in hand, and they will look to increase the gap to eight points at home to Dunfermline on Tuesday.
