Sprightly Sproule is the Spanish archer

Football Writer

Sunday 20 January 2013

IT seems Ross County's sunshine jaunt to Spain last week did them the world of good.

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Graeme Macpherson

The only side apart from Celtic to head for warmer climes during the Scottish Premier League's winter break, County returned refreshed and reinvigorated as they chalked up their first ever win at St Mirren Park. The result takes them to within a point of their vanquished opponents with two games still in hand.

County had posted one of the hard-luck stories of the season in September when they scored four times at this venue only to come away with nothing, but their efforts this time were more handsomely rewarded, a second-half glut of goals blowing away a St Mirren side whose defensive frailties were exposed in brutal fashion. It turned out to be a debut to remember for Ivan Sproule. The former Hibernian winger was lively in the first half, seeing one shot well saved and another whistle past the post, but had to wait until the second half to see a return on his good work. His two goals both arrived as a result of St Mirren errors, but Sproule still had to finish the chances and did so with unerring accuracy."I should have had three or four, but as long as we get the three points I'm happy," he said afterwards. "It was just good to get back playing again."This was St Mirren's first home defeat in more than two months – when, coincidentally, they also lost 4-1 to Aberdeen – and not the performance manager Danny Lennon would have wanted with Celtic waiting in the Scottish Communities League Cup semi-final next weekend.The home side got themselves back into contention with an equalising goal early in the second half only for individual mistakes to prove their undoing. A missed penalty by Lewis Guy in injury-time only added to the feeling this wasn't St Mirren's day."It really beats me up and hurts me inside that County came here and showed hunger and desire more than we did," sighed Lennon. "That was a team I didn't recognise today."Any lingering doubts over Richie Brittain's commitment to the County cause, having agreed a summer move to St Johnstone earlier in the week, were eradicated after 22 minutes. Marc McAusland was adjudged to have handled around 25 yards from goal and Brittain confidently strode up to lash the free kick past Craig Samson. St Mirren have leaned heavily on Steven Thompson for goals this season and he came up with the goods again after 51 minutes. There seemed quite a lot to do when he received a pass from David Barron, but his first touch took him past Scott Boyd and his second was a shot that fairly whizzed past Mark Brown. Barron also provided an assist for the third goal after 67 minutes, this time at the wrong end. The defender tried to cushion a header back to McAusland, but made a real hash of it, the ball falling instead for substitute Sam Morrow, who rifled a shot low past Samson to put County back in front. Four minutes on and the visitors stretched their advantage. Again, St Mirren didn't cover themselves in glory, a poor throw-in from Barron allowing Iain Vigurs to poke a pass through to Sproule who finished well. The Northern Irishman added another after 75 minutes, reacting quickest to the rebound after Rocco Quinn's shot had been saved. St Mirren's misery was concluded in the closing seconds when Grant Munro fouled, Guy only for Brown to block the striker's poorly-struck penalty."It was a marvellous victory from my players," beamed Derek Adams, the Ross County manager. "We're just heading back out to Marbella now..."

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