Ross County face uphill battle in Scottish Premiership relegation play-off after 10-man Staggies beaten by Partick Thistle in first leg
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Partick Thistle 2 (Fitzpatrick, Graham)
Ross County 0
Ross County have it all to do in the second leg of their play-off against Partick Thistle after defeat at Firhill.
Dylan Smith's red card only compounded the situation the Staggies found themselves in after Aidan Fitzpatrick had opened the scoring for the Jags.
With Owura Edwards also suspended for the return leg in Dingwall on Sunday, County will need a big performance to maintain their top flight status for next season.
Partick certainly had the momentum going into the play-off final, having eased past both Queen's Park and Ayr United and scoring 16 goals in the process.
That confidence was on show early on, typified by the opening goal.
Fitzpatrick showed wonderfully quick feet to find a way between Victor Loturi and Edwards before taking aim at the far corner – and finding his mark with a little help from a deflection off Jack Baldwin.
Things went from bad to worse for County, as just 16 minutes into the match Dylan Smith was adjudged to have denied a clear and obvious goalscoring opportunity when he caught Fitzpatrick, and although he was initially shown a yellow card that was upgraded to red after a VAR check.
With a man's advantage, Partick continued to have the upper hand, but they could not find a second goal quickly.
That allowed County to settle somewhat, and George Harmon and Edwards each had half-sights of goal before the first half was over.
Unfortunately for them though, Partick would double their advantage on the brink of half time.
Just as the clock ticked over into added time, former County striker Brian Graham would volley Kyle Turner's cross into the back of the net with a wonderful finish to put the home side in the driving seat.
Turner himself went close with a free kick before the interval arrived, which was finally a welcome break for the Staggies to regroup.
Graham continued to prove a thorn in the side of County's defenders, linking up at different times with Turner and Scott Tiffoney to test out Ross Laidlaw's glovework.
Just before the hour mark, Graham had a golden chance to make it 3-0, getting on the end of Fitzpatrick's cross but almost being at too close range, with his shot cannoning back off Laidlaw.
With their numerical disadvantage, County really struggled to get enough of the ball to threaten goal, and it was a largely quiet evening for Partick goalkeeper David Mitchell.
As such, the Staggies could not find what could have been a crucial goal back to cut the deficit in half going into the second leg in Dingwall on Sunday, and in fact a late effort from Danny Mullen that was pushed on to the crossbar by Laidlaw meant they may be relieved to only need to come from two goals behind to remain in the Premiership next season.
