Staggies at the double as Saints slumped to another Premiership defeat

Posted Sunday, August 13, 2023 by PA

Goals from substitute Kyle Turner and defender Connor Randall gave Ross County their first cinch Premiership win with a 2-0 victory over St Johnstone, who remain pointless.

The visitors were missing 10 first-team squad players because of injuries and it showed as a patched-up side struggled to contain Ross County’s forwards for the majority of the first half.

County created four chances in the opening 20 minutes when Josh Sims and Simon Murray each had two opportunities to break the deadlock.

But it was Saints who almost grabbed an unmerited lead.

County goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw threw himself to his right to punch clear Daniel Phillips’ well-struck effort from 20 yards, which looked set for the top corner.

But it seemed only a matter of time before County scored, with debutant Ryan Leak seeing a header blocked and then Sims nodding wide.

Turner, who had replaced injured Yan Dhanda, displayed much more accurate finishing when he took advantage of poor defending to break the deadlock with a side-foot effort in the 41st minute.

Saints manager Steven MacLean made tactical re-adjustments for the second half in an effort to limit County to fewer openings.

But the visitors were once again exposed when Murray just failed to make contact with a cross from James Brown before Randall doubled the lead in the 52nd minute.

Sims did well to set up Randall, who found the far side of the net with an angled drive from 20 yards.

The Staggies, though, had to endure a five-minute spell of sustained pressure immediately following Randall’s goal when Sam McClelland McClelland and substitute Taylor Steven both threatened.

County’s failure to produce crisper finishing might also have come back to haunt them after 72 minutes had Turner not popped up on the line to block a shot from Ryan McGowan.