Date	Sunday, 21 April 2013
Competition	Scottish Premier League
Fixture/Score	Saint Johnstone 2:2 Ross County
Venue	McDiarmid Park
Attendance	2,444
Referee	Willie Collum
Comments	Match Report Report by Andrew Southwick for the BBC. Scottish Premier League Top Six Saint Johnstone 2 Ross County 2 Richard Brittain struck a penalty double as Ross County earned a point in an exciting tussle with St Johnstone. Saints twice led through headers from Steven McLean and Murray Davidson. However, they shot themselves in the foot, conceding penalties either side of half-time, and pre-contract signing Brittain took full advantage. Both goalkeepers made a string of impressive saves, with County's Michael Fraser denying Gregory Tade a late winner with a world-class stop. St Johnstone, a point better off than the Staggies, are now four points behind third placed Inverness CT, with the sides meeting in Perth next weekend. Brittain was centre of attention after his bid to cancel his agreed move to McDiarmid Park but he did not let that distract him and the County skipper celebrated both of his goals with great enthusiasm. St Johnstone were ahead with the first real chance of the game, Gregory Tade directing a free header into the path of McLean, who had drifted in behind the static defence, and he nodded over Michael Fraser. It could have been 2-0 three minutes later when Medhi Abeid swiped a shot wide after Tade's header was clawed off the line. Iain Vigurs sparked the visitors into life after 13 minutes; winning a penalty after a fierce drive was spilled by Alan Mannus and Chris Millar bundled him over. Brittain kept a cool head to drive his penalty low into the left hand corner to a background of boos from the home support. The hosts resumed control of the game, and Dave MacKay stung the gloves of Fraser with a long range shot a minute before they restored their lead. Abeid's floated free-kick from the right found the head of Davidson who expertly directed his header beyond the keeper. St Johnstone went looking for a third, and Rowan Vine and Abeid both went close but, as half-time approached, Ross County had two great chances to level. Andre Hainault headed over from close range, then Ivan Sproule - who had been quiet until that point - hit a right-foot volley which Mannus did well to tip wide. The impressive Abeid opened another opportunity for Saints shortly after half-time; nipping down the right and cutting a low ball across the danger area that just evaded Tade. Steffen Wohlfarth went close for County on 67 minutes when he spun a shot wide but it wasn't looking like their day, and it got worse when January signing Branislav Micic lasted 25 minutes after coming off the bench for his debut before going off with a shoulder injury. However, their luck changed with 15 minutes remaining when Tam Scobbie brought down Sproule in the area after a great diving save from Mannus despite the Northern Irishman running away from goal, leaving referee Willie Collum no choice but to point to the spot. Brittain once more accepted the opportunity and sent the keeper the wrong way. Only top class goalkeeping from Fraser denied St Johnstone the lead again three minutes later when he produced an instinctive point-blank stop from Tade's powerful downward header. A misplaced header from Frazer Wright presented Wohlfarth with a great chance to snatch a winner for the visitors but the striker nodded wide as the action swung to the other end. Both sides went in search of a third goal in a frantic closing sequence but had to settle for a share of the spoils which will have pleased Inverness more than the managers at McDiarmid Park. Ross County manager Derek Adams believes Richard Brittain will be able to resolve his pre-contract issues with St Johnstone "very shortly". Brittain has signed an agreement to join Saints next season but no longer wants to move to McDiarmid Park due to personal reasons. St Johnstone say they expect the midfielder to honour the agreement. "I wouldn't want a player at my club that didn't want to stay there signing a two-year contract," said Adams. "He's obviously looking to terminate the contract between himself and St Johnstone and I'm sure they'll come to a conclusion very shortly." Brittain is keen to remain in Dingwall when his current contract ends this summer. But Adams said: "We haven't offered anything to Richard at this point. We'll wait and see how things progress." Meanwhile, the County boss revealed negotiations to assemble a squad for next season are underway. "We've started to talk to players and get an idea of what they're thinking," Adams added. "By the end of the season, we'll have a good number of players signed up for next season and we'll look to add to the squad throughout the summer as well."
Ross County
Manager	Derek Adams
Starting 11	1: Michael Fraser, 4: Grant Munro 1, 8: Paul Lawson 1, 10: Richard Brittain 2 (2 pens), 11: Iain Vigurs, 12: Rocco Quinn, 13: Andre Hainault, 15: Steffen Wohifarth, 16: Ivan Sproule, 18: Evangelos Oikonomou, 22: Mihael Kovacevic
Bench	0: Paul Gallacher, 0: Branislav Micic 1, 7: Stuart Kettlewell, 14: Martin Scott, 21: Alex Cooper, 23: Archie Macphee, 24: Steven Ross
Saint Johnstone
Manager	Steve Lomas
Starting 11	Alan Mannus, David Mackay, Frazer Wright, Steven Anderson, Thomas Scobbie, Christopher Millar 1, Murray Davidson 1, Mehdi Abeid, Gregory Tade, Steven MacLean 1, Rowan Vine
Bench	Jonny Tuffey, Gary Miller, Patrick Cregg, Gwion Edwards, Michael Doughty, Nigel Hasselbaink, Christopher Kane