Date	Saturday, 11 January 2014
Competition	Scottish Premiership
Fixture/Score	Partick Thistle 3:3 Ross County
Venue	Firhill Stadium
Attendance	3,539
Referee	Bobby Madden
Comments	Match Report Report by Clive Lindsay for the BBC. Partick Thistle 3 Ross County 3 Two new on-loan signings gave a kiss of life to a relegation tussle at Firhill in which Ross County came from two goals behind to hold Partick Thistle. Cardiff's Filip Kiss put County ahead from long-range, but that was quickly cancelled out by Sheffield United striker Lyle Taylor's powerful drive. Taylor headed Thistle ahead and Steven Lawless extended the lead. But goals from Ben Gordon and Kiss gave County a deserved draw despite Stuart Kettlewell's late red card. It denied the Jags a first home win in the league and and leaves second-bottom County one point behind the hosts. Both sides had gone into the game with a resurgence in confidence, with Thistle having ended a run of 10 games without a win by beating Hearts last weekend and County arriving in Glasgow seeking a third straight victory. County manager Derek Adams has been handed a mini-warchest for the January transfer window and appears to have found some firepower in central midfield through Kiss and Michael Tidser, on loan from Rotherham United, who forced Kettlewell and Alex Cooper on to the bench. Blackburn Rovers' Jordan Slew has added power up front, but Adams will no doubt be focusing his next activity on central defence and goalkeeper. Taylor appeared to strike terror in the hearts of Scott Boyd and Brian McLean from the outset and it was after a shot from the striker was blocked that Kallum Higginbothan forced a fine reaction save from Michael Fraser following a powerful 12-yard volley. A poor back header from Steven McLean gave Higginbotham a sight at goal and, from the resulting corner, Conrad Balatoni should have done better than head over from close range. However, County looked the more creative outfit in midfield and took the lead after a string of passes around the edge of the Thistle penalty box gave the classy Kiss time to drop his shoulder before smacking a clever curler past Scott Fox from 18 yards. The lead only lasted five minutes after Taylor, despite McLean's close attentions, managed to fire a drive from 22 yards that, despite its power, should not have squirmed through the arms of goalkeeper Fraser. Fox clawed a Richard Brittain free-kick off the line, but it was Thistle who struck next when Taylor stole in unmarked at the front post to head home an Aaron Taylor-Sinclair cross for his third goal in two games. The Englishman's goals dried up after his switch from Falkirk to Sheffield United, but the 23-year-old looks like making as big an impact in the Scottish top tier as he did in its second. Taylor also started the move that led to Thistle extending their lead two minutes after the break, Higginbotham delivering the final pass that set up Lawless to finish from 10 yards. County did not let their heads drop and struck back three minutes later when a Brittain header was cleared off the line by Taylor-Sinclair, but Gordon's low drive found the net through a sea of legs. The visitors were now on top and, after Brittain flicked through to Kiss, the Slovakian coolly stabbed past Fox. County's cause was not helped by Kettlewell being shown a straight red card for a studs-first tackle on Ross Forbes seconds after coming on as a substitute. However, despite a Stephen O'Donnell thunderbolt skimming the County post in the dying seconds, the Dingwall side held on to make it five straight visits to Firhill without tasting defeat. Derek Adams says conceding three goals in Ross County's draw with Partick Thistle has strengthened his resolve to bring in another defender. The County manager is also looking for a goalkeeper and is still hoping to conclude a loan deal for Notts County striker Yann Arquin. Thistle loan striker Lyle Taylor scored twice at Firhill. "I told the centre-halves at half time they were making Lyle Taylor look a very good player," said Adams. "That's unacceptable because he is a good player, but he's not a really good player. "I could have played against my two centre-halves today and looked good, while Ikonomou needs to get off his deck chair." Adams brought in Evangelos Ikonomou this month after the Greek left-back agreed to return to the Dingwall club from Veria in his homeland, but the manager's transfer dealings will continue. "The goals we gave away were terrible," he said. "Partick were not in the game before that and we found ourselves 2-1 down without them having done anything. "In the first half, some of the decision making was so poor. "We need to strengthen in that area this month now, obviously, and we still have some of the budget available we did not spend in the summer." Goalkeeper Michael Fraser also made a negative contribution in allowing a Taylor drive slip through his grasp to cancel out Filip Kiss's opener. "We are looking in that area," said Adams, when asked if he was still looking for a goalkeeper having failed in a bid for Manchester City's Eirik Johansen. Kiss made an instant impact, scoring twice only days after his loan deal from Cardiff City was confirmed. "I thought Kiss was outstanding," said Adams. "You could see the quality that he has got and why he has been playing for such a good team at Cardiff. "The goals we lost were shockers, but he has had to pull two out of the bag to save us." Adams thought that, with Kiss forming a fine partnership with Michael Tidser, signed on loan from Rotherham United, his side had "controlled the game in the middle of the park". However, he added: "I would have taken a point after 90 minutes because we were losing 3-1 down."
Ross County
Manager	Derek Adams
Starting 11	20: Michael Fraser, 3: Benjamin Gordon 1, 5: Scott Boyd, 7: Filip Kiss 2 1, 8: Richard Brittain, 12: Michael Tidser, 15: Gary Glen, 21: Brian McLean, 23: Graham Carey, 25: Jordan Slew, 26: Evangelos Oikonomou
Bench	1: Mark Brown, 4: Stuart Kettlewell 1, 6: Branislav Micic, 10: Rocco Quinn, 11: Melvin De Leeuw, 16: Alex Cooper, 19: Kevin Luckassen
Partick Thistle
Manager	Alan Archibald
Starting 11	Scott Fox, Stephen O'Donnell 1, Aaron Taylor-Sinclair, Aaron Muirhead 1, Conrad Balatoni, James Craigen, Steven Lawless 1, Gabriel Piccolo 1, Christie Elliot, Lyle Taylor 2, Kallum Higginbotham
Bench	Paul Gallacher, Kris Doolan, Ross Forbes, Jordan McMillan, Gary Fraser, John Baird, David Wilson