Ross County vs St. Johnstone. Scottish Premiership.
Global Energy StadiumAttendance4,157.
Match report as Ross County brush St Johnstone aside to claim their first win of the Scottish Premiership season.
Saturday 12 August 2023 20:30, UK
Goals from substitute Kyle Turner and defender Connor Randall gave Ross County their first Scottish 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.
St Johnstone manager Steven MacLean said: "It was poor - individually, two players got pass marks. We didn't show enough desire or commitment, didn't win first contact or second balls. They out-battled and out-fought us.
"We need to get players in and we need to get players back from injury. We are in a dogfight already and they know that. We need help.
"The players who were out there haven't done themselves any favours and they need to look over their shoulder. I include myself in that - we are all in this together."
Ross County manager Malky McKay said: "I was probably a little bit disappointed at half-time that it wasn't put to bed.
"We had some great opportunities in the first half. On any given day, we might have been 4-0 up and the game is dead. It wasn't.
"Kyle Turner scored a good goal, but at 1-0 we realised Steven would be getting torn into St Johnstone and that they would come out flying.
"In those situations, the opposition can be a bit carefree and play passes they wouldn't normally play because they have to get back into it. For 15 minutes, we settled it down and made sure we defended properly."
Ross County's attention turns to the Scottish League Cup with a second-round tie at Airdrieonians on August 19.
Their next Scottish Premiership match is at home to Rangers on August 26, live on Sky Sports. Kick-off 12.30pm.
St Johnstone failed to progress in the League Cup so their next match is away to Celtic on August 26, kick-off 3pm.
