| Date | Saturday, 29 October 2005 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 2:1 Saint Johnstone |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 2,557 |
| Referee | Stuart Dougal |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Ross County 2 Saint Johnstone 1 Ross County gave Donald Park a rousing send-off by beating St Johnstone 2-1 at Victoria Park. After the game, County revealed that assistant manager Park, who had taken charge of the team in the wake of John Robertson departure, is also leaving the club. Under-19 coach Gardner Speirs has been appointed interim caretaker manager. The Dingwall men played some of their best football of the season, especially in the first half, and should have at least been three up by the break. But it took an own-goal from former Don Kevin Rutkiewicz to give County the point. Speirs revealed that the players had been told about Park leaving on Thursday. He said: "The chairman spoke to me on Friday and with Donald going he asked me if I would step in and I was happy to do that because the players here are a first-class bunch." When asked if he would be interested in the job on a full-time basis he said: "I wouldn't say no, but everything has happened so quickly I think the first thing to do is to get us moving again. But you saw the performance. We had lots of chances and the margin of victory could have been a lot greater." John Rankin gave County an early lead when he drilled the ball home from close range after getting on the end of a deep cross from Don Cowie. County dominated proceedings in the first half and Fergus Tiernan and Alex Burke missed chances in front of goal to extend the lead. Saints came back into the game and Jason Scotland levelled matters midway through the second half with a back header after Kevin James had knocked on a Darren Sheridan cross. But County restored the lead three minutes later when a darting run and cross from Cowie was turned into his own net by Rutkiewicz. The visitors almost grabbed a late equaliser in injury time but substitute Stephen Dobbie's shot spun off the inside of a post. Saints Manager Owen Coyle said: "after we equalised I thought we had opportunities to go on and win the game." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Donald Park |
| Starting 11 | 1: Stuart Garden, 2: Martin Canning 1, 3: James Lauchlan 1, 4: Lionel Djebi-Zadi, 5: David Cowan, 6: John Rankin 1 1, 7: Fergus Tiernan, 8: Mark McCulloch, 9: Don (JNR) Cowie, 10: David Winters, 11: Alexander Burke |
| Bench | 0: Joseph Malin, 0: Sean Webb, 0: Kevin McKinlay, 0: Steven McGarry 1, 0: Gary McSwegan |
| Saint Johnstone | |
| Manager | Owen Coyle |
| Starting 11 | Kevin Cuthbert, John Henry, Goran Stanic, Kevin Rutkiewicz 1 1, Kevin James, Simon Mensing 1, Paul Sheerin, Darren Sheridan, Ryan Stevenson, Steven Milne, Jason Scotland 1 |
| Bench | Mark Paston, Steven Anderson, Ryan McCann, Stephen Dobbie, Owen Coyle |