Battle to avoid relegation play-off goes down to final day of Premiership season after Ross County and Dundee draw at Dens Park – automatically relegating St Johnstone
Ross County are safe from automatic relegation – but their bid to avoid a third play-off in-a-row will go down to the last day of the season after drawing 1-1 with Dundee.
Both sides exchanged sights of goal in the early stages, but it was County who came closest to breaking the deadlock in the first half.
Around midway through the period, Ronan Hale decided to take matters into his own hands – dribbling past three opponents to fashion a shooting opportunity, only to see his effort tipped on to the crossbar by home goalkeeper Trevor Carson.
At the other end, Jordan Amissah was needed to produce an impressive stop to deny Seb Palmer-Houlden on the brink of half time.
It would only take 10 minutes of the second half for the first goal, and unfortunately for the Staggies it went against them.
Lyall Cameron managed to pick out Scott Tiffoney, who expertly finished to put Dundee 1-0 ahead.
Amissah was again called into action on the hour mark to keep out a Joe Shaughnessy header at a corner kick, while Hale would miss a good chance 20 minutes before the end after being found by Alex Samuel’s cut-back.
With time running out, County thought they should have had a penalty when Hale clashed with Antonio Portales, but referee Nick Walsh disagreed.
They would get their spot kick deep into stoppage time though, as Portales was deemed to have handballed when teammate Ryan Astley headed the ball on to his outstretched arm.
Hale stepped up, and confidently smashed the ball into the net for a 96th minute equaliser, salvaging a vital point for the Staggies.
Crucially though, coupled with St Johnstone’s defeat to Hearts, it means that the Perth outfit have been automatically relegated and the worst case scenario for County is a play-off.
Motherwell are due to visit Dingwall on Sunday to close the season, while County will now be relying on a favour from the Perth Saints as they host Dundee.
