Ross County manager Don Cowie pleased to salvage point after ‘strange’ game against St Johnstone in Dingwall
Don Cowie described Ross County's 3-3 draw with St Johnstone as a "strange game", but felt his side deserved something to show from their efforts in Dingwall.
Ronan Hale had put County ahead midway through the first half after Josh Nisbet had nicked possession inside the St Johnstone half and fed him in, only for Drey Wright to score with a deflected half-volley shortly before half time to level the scores.
Nicky Clark then stepped up to become the thorn in the Staggies' side, as he has so many times before.
Two direct free kicks flew past Ross Laidlaw to give St Johnstone a 3-1 advantage inside the final 10 minutes, before County staged a remarkable comeback.
First it was a header from Alex Samuel, left totally unmarked at the back post to head in from close range, before Akil Wright powered a header of his own into the far corner from 15 yards out deep into stoppage time to salvage a result.
It briefly looked like County may be able to go on and win it with nine minutes added, but Cowie was pleased with the point considering how dire their situation looked late in the game.
"It was a strange game in terms of us being in control and looking comfortable and threatening," Cowie reasoned.
"We probably should have been further ahead than the one goal we had, but we weren't clinical enough with the opportunities we had.
"We got punished. Nicky Clark does what he does against us, and it put us in a really challenging position.
"We showed great character to get a point out of the game, which is the least we deserved.
"It's a massive positive, because it didn't feel like a 3-1 game at that stage, but we kept going.
"We went with three up front to try and get back into it, and Al pops up with a great header to make it 3-2 and that galvanises the group.
"It helps when you see there's nine minutes of stoppage time to keep going, and Akil pops up with a fantastic header to get us a very valuable point.
"I think the momentum was there for us to try and win the game, but there wasn't enough time for that. Overall, I'm just delighted to get it back to 3-3."
County also felt they should have had a penalty late in the first half, when Jordan White beat St Johnstone goalkeeper Ross Stewart to a high ball before being clattered by the Saints stopper.
Referee Dan McFarlane waved play on at the time, a decision backed up by VAR Greg Aitken, but Cowie felt as though it could easily have been given.
"At the time I thought it was a penalty," he reasoned.
"I've seen it back, and Jordan got first contact before being barged into.
"I thought it was a penalty at the time, and after seeing it back I could see it being given on another day.
"It was checked very quickly, so the official obviously deemed it wasn't a high enough bar to be looked at."
