YOU wait 350 minutes for a goal in a Ross County and Dundee United match and then two come along all at once.
This always looked like being a game to cultivate a much richer scoring return compared to the previous three stalemates, but it maintained a familiar trend on the part of the Tangerines.
It matters little in the current era, but County haven't managed a victory in eight attempts against the Tannadice men since a distant day back in 1998. The historic nature of that League Cup shock for the then-Third Division outfit was emphasised on two fronts.
Derek Adams, now manager, hit the winning double back then while Neale Cooper, back assisting in the dug-out yesterday after a decade's absence was the victorious manager. Both sides had a decent clutch of chances yesterday, but United certainly deserved to edge it.
Stuart Armstrong capped his impressive display with a close-range header for the winner. It was the third time in a month United have come from behind to scramble a result.
"It was a satisfying win, especially after going behind again," said Peter Houston, the United manager. "I felt we showed more composure in the second half, but not enough in the first.
"After the break, we go a goal behind, but again we showed the character we have. We kept at it and got the goal back fairly early. From then on in, I thought there was only going to be one winner."
If United's form had been generally on the up, County's had been resilient at home with two victories and three draws from six at home prior to yesterday. Houston's men, though, showing the confidence of a team beaten only once in their last seven games, enjoyed the early momentum.
A fine move on the right after five minutes saw Armstrong's ball in to Jon Daly laid off to Johnny Russell, who drew a strong parry from keeper Michael Fraser.
A wild mis-hit by United defender Gavin Gunning after 13 minutes veered into space for Rocco Quinn whose strike from the edge of the box was hurtling under the bar before Radoslaw Cierzniak's acrobatic tip over.
County were dangerous on the break, while United pressed persistently. United's Brian McLean hacked off the line from Stuart Kettlewell to retain the fixture's charmed life, but County had the best chance of the half after 32 minutes.
A measured Ross Tokely ball into the box somehow parted the Tangerine defence, but Sam Morrow's close-range strike was blocked by Cierzniak.
However, Cierzniak's punched clearance three minutes after the re-start led to County's opener.
Richie Brittain recovered the ball wide right and his dink into the area was met by a superb diving header from Iain Vigurs.
The home lead lasted just four minutes, though. A hopeful United clearance behind the County defence had Fraser sprinting to the edge of his area.
But Fraser wasn't quick enough to prevent Russell tearing in to clip the ball into the empty net for his eighth goal of the season. United signalled their intentions soon after with the trickery of Rudi Skacel replacing John Rankin from the bench.
The Tannadice men were ahead after 65 minutes when the lively Gary Mackay-Steven delivered a long cross in from the left.
Daly reached it with his head on the far bye-line and the header back across goal left Armstrong with a simple stoop to nod in on the line. A disappointed Adams drew some positives in defeat. "I thought we played well in the first half and stopped United's danger players," the County manager stressed.
"The mistake we made at 1-0 kills us and it is difficult after that. We had the better of the openings in the first half and should have been ahead."
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