| Date | Saturday, 11 September 2004 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 0:1 Saint Johnstone |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 2,486 |
| Referee | A.Hampshire |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Ross County 0 Saint Johnstone 1 David Hannah struck the Killer Blow against his former club on his first visit to Victoria Park since joining St Johnstone. The former Ross County captain scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot to earn his side all three points against 10-man County. County's pre-match preparations were seriously disrupted when Sean Kilgannon was injured in a nasty fall in the dressing-room and then John Rankin damaged a cartilage in the warm-up. Steve MacKay replaced Kilgannon on the left side of midfield and young Neil Macdonald came on to the bench. It all looked ominous for a County side in search of its first league win of the season. County manager Alex Smith said: "We didn't play well in the first half against a strong wind. The day started badly for us actually when we lost Kilgannon and Rankin. "We didn't start playing until we had a player sent off. I thought we worked hard enough in the last 25 minutes to earn a point. But we need to start like that in order to get full points." Saints made the early running at Dingwall and former Caley Thistle player Paul Sheerin tested Stuart Garden with a snapshot in the fifth minute. Steve McConalogue should have done better when he sneaked in at the far post, but his close-range effort failed to trouble the County goalkeeper. There was little in the way of goalmouth action until MacKay bundled Michael Moore off the ball inside the area in the 31st minute and Hannah stepped up to fire the ball high into the net from the penalty spot. It was no more than the Perth side deserved and McConalogue almost doubled the lead, but he was denied by a fine save from Garden. County were reduced to 10 men in the 63rd minute when Gary McSwegan was sent off for showing his studs to Saints defender Kevin Forteringham. But despite their lack of numbers, Ross County produced their best football of the game and Don Cowie was desperately unlucky to see his drive from outside the area rebound off the upright. That was the nearest County came to an equalizer as a stuffy Saints defence held out to the final whistle. Saints manager John Connolly said: "That's four points from our last two matches. It's a massive step forward for us and we've got to try to keep it going. "It sets us up nicely for our next two home matches, with Falkirk and Partick Thistle." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Alexander (Alex) Smith |
| Starting 11 | 1: Stuart Garden, 2: James Lauchlan, 3: John Robertson, 4: Martin Canning, 5: Stuart Malcolm, 6: Don (JNR) Cowie, 7: Mark McCulloch, 8: Steven MacKay 1, 9: Charles Adam, 10: Alexander Burke, 11: Gary McSwegan |
| Bench | 0: Colin Stewart, 0: David Winters, 0: Steven McGarry 1, 0: Jamie McCunnie |
| Saint Johnstone | |
| Manager | John Connolly |
| Starting 11 | Allan McGregor, Steven Anderson, Ian Maxwell, Kevin Rutkiewicz, Kevin Fotheringham, Paul Sheerin, Lee Hardy, David Hannah 1 (1 pen), Ryan McCann, Stephen McConalogue, Michael Moore |
| Bench | Kevin Cuthbert, Mark Baxter, Alan Mahood, Stevie McManus, Chris Hay |