| Date | Saturday, 14 August 2004 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 1:1 Saint Mirren |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 2,666 |
| Referee | Alan Freeland |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Ross County 1 Saint Mirren 1 A last-gasp equaliser from John O'Neill earned St Mirren a deserved share of the points against Ross County at Victoria Park on Saturday. O'Neill's former Queen of the South team-mate Alex Burke had given County an early lead as County went on to dominate the first half. But it was a different story after the break and the introduction of O'Neill, who replaced Hugh Miller, helped turn this game on it head. County manager Alex Smith admitted his side was up against it in the second period. He said: "To be fair to them I thought they did very well. They piled forward in the last 20 minutes and our boys gave the ball away far too often, which caused us problems. "We had a lot of draws last season so I was, obviously, disappointed to lose a goal with just seconds to go. In fact, on my watch it was time up." He added: "But it's early days. We won our first game at Dumfries last week and drew against two of the teams that will be rivals at the top end of the table." Burke, who scored the winner against St Mirren a couple of weeks ago in the Bell's Cup, notched his seventh goal of the season when he headed home a John Robertson cross in the third minute. Steven McGarry came close to adding a second when he got on the end of a Don Cowie cut-back, but his glancing header flew inches wide of the upright. David Winters curled a free kick narrowly past as County kept up the pressure and on the stroke of half-time Burke was sent clear by John Rankin, but Saints keeper Craig Hinchcliffe turned the striker's shot past for a corner. Saints looked a different team in the second half and Mixu Paatelainen headed narrowly over from Ricky Gillies cross in the Buddies' first attack. O'Neill was proving a real handful for the County defence and he was denied an equaliser in the 76th minute when his close-range effort was blocked on the goal-line by Stuart Garden. But justice was done in the 89th minute when poor defending allowed O.Neill space in the box and his low drive crept inside the right hand post. Buddies boss Gus MacPherson said: "I thought a draw was just about right although we started the game poorly." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Alexander (Alex) Smith |
| Starting 11 | 1: Stuart Garden, 2: Martin Canning, 3: James Lauchlan, 4: John Robertson, 5: Mark McCulloch, 6: John Rankin, 7: Jamie McCunnie, 8: Don (JNR) Cowie, 9: Alexander Burke 1, 10: Steven McGarry, 11: David Winters |
| Bench | 0: John Mccaffrey, 0: Stuart Malcolm, 0: Mark Gardner, 0: Steven MacKay, 0: Sean Higgins |
| Saint Mirren | |
| Manager | Gus MacPherson |
| Starting 11 | Craig Hinchcliffe, Kevin McGowne, David van Zanten, Andy Millen, Kirk Broadfoot, Hugh Murray, Mark Reilly, Simon Lappin, Brian McGinty, Mixu Paatelainen, Ricky Gillies |
| Bench | Stevie Woods, Jon O'Neil 1, Ryan McCay, John Baird, Eddie Annand |