Ross County 1 St Johnstone 2: Mackay thinks taxing afternoon will pay dividends

Monday 24 September 2012

AFTER an afternoon which left St Johnstone desperately seeking a pause for breath, David Mackay offered a moment of clarity.

Ross County's 40-game unbeaten run came to an end

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Alasdair Fraser

Given the weight his side carried from their victory over champions Celtic last week a trip to face Ross County had come to look like their biggest test of the season so far, St Johnstone's success leaving the captain convinced they can repeat last season's top-six finish.

The Perth side had felled Celtic despite many in their ranks coming down with a sickness bug, but on Saturday it was County that were left feeling queasy. Derek Adams' team did everything but score against a visiting side reduced to 10 men for an hour, and they paid a hefty price as their proud 40-match unbeaten league run finally fell.For the determined visitors, though, this show of resolve and spirit augurs well for the campaign ahead. "When you get a fantastic result like that against Celtic it actually makes no difference at all the following week," MacKay said. "If anything, there is more burden on you to make sure you get the three points in the next game – and we've done that."We were a wee bit lucky but we'll take that at a tough venue. Not many teams will win up here this year. In the second half especially, it was attack after attack from Ross County and we did well to weather it. Their equaliser was a pretty poor goal to lose but to come back and win it was a great feeling."There were balls flying about but we have the type of characters who will just throw themselves into every challenge and make those blocks. It is actually the type of game some of our players really like – all-out defending. Hopefully we've got that little bit of luck now and wee bit of confidence to push on."McKay was joined by defensive pillars Steven Anderson and Frazer Wright to form an experienced unit in Steve Lomas's defence alongside Gary Miller, back to face the club he spent five years with up until this summer. They had already been heavily involved before Liam Craig struck the opener from fully 25 yards.Rowan Vine, who scored the winner against Celtic, then tarnished his growing reputation among the visiting support after seeming to barge aggressively into Richard Brittain which brought a red card. County sought to take the initiative although their pressure was sometimes toothless.The home side continued to push for an equaliser after the break. It came when defender Grant Munro, exhorting his team forwards, took matters into his own hands by feeding Iain Vigurs on the left and then receiving the return pass in the box. His second pass found Sam Morrow, who slotted a shot into the net.It was the sort of incident which would have caused St Johnstone to crumble as they took their first unsure first steps of the season. But they held strong in Dingwall, Wright arcing a header into the net to seal an unlikely victory.For Marc Fitzpatrick, the County defender, the end of the 40-game unbeaten run was less of a relevance than his side's first league defeat of the season. The key will be in how his side respond."This is the first time in 41 games we've tasted that losing feeling and it will be a test of our character now as to how we react," he said. "We've shown by going 40 games unbeaten that we have a good mentality about us and that we can deal with the pressure."I wouldn't say the pressure is off now. We didn't feel any pressure defending the run and the manager didn't really bring it up in the changing room. Truthfully, we never really thought about it too much."

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Ross County 1 St Johnstone 2: Mackay thinks taxing afternoon will pay dividends

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