Ross County and St Mirren each have to settle for a point as Paisley Premiership clash ends in stalemate
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St Mirren 0
Ross County 0
Ross County had to work hard for a point away at St Mirren, who gave every bit as good as they got in Paisley.
Jak Alnwick was by far the busier of the two goalkeepers in the first half, but the Staggies needed Ashley Maynard-Brewer on several occasions in the second to keep them in the contest.
County manager Malky Mackay made four changes, with one enforced because of Harry Clarke's suspension, as Jake Vokins, Ross Callachan, Joe Hungbo and Dominic Samuel all came into the starting 11.
That did not seem to disrupt the Staggies too much though, as they started the match on the front foot.
Just five minutes in Blair Spittal had a shot that was deflected, actually seeming to take it closer to the back of the net as Jak Alnwick scrambled backwards to keep an eye on it.
Soon after, Samuel did well to take a sliced clearance from a black and white shirt under control and bear down on goal. He tried to pick out the bottom corner, but Alnwick was equal to it, making a good save low to his left.
Spittal followed that up with another shot from just outside the box that proved to be far more comfortable for the home stopper to deal with, but he was certainly the busier of the two goalkeepers early on.
St Mirren did start to grow into the game, and Conor Ronan stung the palms of Ashley Maynard-Brewer with a half volley from distance, but the Aussie held on at the second time of asking.
Play was beginning to open up, with Jack Baldwin making a crucial block inside his own six-yard box to prevent County going behind, but Harry Paton then being denied by another Alnwick stop.
From there the game turned into something of a stalemate, with some nice passages of play from both sides that broke down when they reached the final third, much to the frustration of the Buddies' support in the stands.
The visitors did suffer a blow before the end of the first half, though, when Alex Iacovitti pulled up with a hamstring issue when St Mirren attempted to break forward quickly on a counter attack. The central defender was forced to come off, and was replaced by Keith Watson.
Still, both teams will have felt as though there were encouraging signs that they could build on after the interval, it was just a question of who could break the deadlock.
St Mirren could have been forgiven for believing they had done just that when Kristian Dennis had the chance to head home at the back post form just a couple of yards out, but he did not connect properly with the ball and wound up missing the target.
It was certainly role-reversal from the first half, as Maynard-Brewer had to make two important saves just after the hour mark to keep the scoreline at level pegging.
He was called into action again as Greg Kiltie had a go from the corner of the box with around 15 minutes left, and it looked like it was going to be a quiet second half for Alnwick.
Where at times County had swarmed forward and caused problems before half time, they really struggled to get the ball down and keep it for any period of time in the second, particularly in the opposition half.
As the clock ticked down, they raised their intensity level though, and Alnwick needed to make a good double save in the 85th minute to deny first Spittal and then Paton.
The late burst of life was not enough to take the points though, as the deadlock could not be broken and St Mirren and Ross County had to share the spoils.
St Mirren: Alnwick, Tait, Tanser (Millar 79), Power, McGrath, Brophy (Main 63), McAllister, Dunne, Dennis, Fraser, Ronan (Kiltie 72).
Subs not used: Lyness, Flynn, Erhahon, Erwin.
Ross County: Maynard-Brewer, Randall, Vokins, Cancola, Baldwin, Paton, Spittal, Callachan (Tillson 79), D Samuel (White 79), Iacovitti (Watson 34), Hungbo.
Subs not used: Laidlaw, Robertson, Charles-Cook, Burroughs.
Referee: David Dickinson
Yellow cards: St Mirren – Power (27), Tait (32), Dunne (49), Fraser (75); Ross County – Watson (39), Vokins (47) Cancola (49), Paton (55).
Attendance: 2806
