Date	Saturday, 08 April 2023
Competition	Scottish Premiership
Fixture/Score	Saint Johnstone 0:2 Ross County
Venue	McDiarmid Park
Attendance	3,027
Referee	Alan Muir
Comments	Match Report Report by Jack Herrall for the BBC. Saint Johnstone 0 Ross County 2 Ross County recorded their first Scottish Premiership away win since November and made a significant move in the relegation battle by winning at St Johnstone. Simon Murray's stunning opener and David Cancola's thumping effort either side of the interval gave Malky Mackay's Dingwall side their first win in four. That lifted them to within a point of Kilmarnock and moved them five clear of bottom club Dundee United, albeit having played a game more. St Johnstone are now without a home win in eight - a run also stretching back to November - with Callum Davidson's side now on a five-game winless run. "They're [the fans] entitled to boo," said St Johnstone boss Davidson. "We're not taking our foot off the gas, we don't think we're not trying, I think it's one of those things, they're entitled to their opinion. "We want to make sure we get that couple of victories and we want to be in the league next year. We're in a relegation fight, simple as that. Now roll your sleeves up and lets get on with it." An early Liam Gordon header zipped narrowly past a post as both teams made a lively start, a few half-chances for Eamonn Brophy suggested both sides were looking to strike in the opening minutes. The trend continued, but no goals came with it. Adam Montgomery dragged a shot wide before Brophy did the same at the other end and was left in a heap on the turf, requiring Murray to be called into action off the bench. After a fairly lively and end-to-end start, the attacking impetus of each side gave way to a more turgid affair. St Johnstone looked set to end the half as the better side as Drey Wright, Stevie May and Gordon all failed to score from promising positions until Murray latched on to a Jordan White flick on. The early substitute then outpaced Ryan McGowan and expertly sent his strike past Remi Matthews. Four minutes after the restart, County doubled their advantage. A deep, inswinging corner was knocked down, allowing the unmarked Cancola to step forward and emphatically thump it home. Josh Sims drove down the right-hand side for the visitors and found Murray with his cutback, but the striker's effort was thwarted well by an instinctive Matthews save. Chances came for both sides as the game went on, with St Johnstone's Daniel Phillips having the two best chances, one of which deflected off a post late on. County had been waiting a long time for an away win, and they went about getting in an impressive manner. The aforementioned White was an integral part of linking their play, with the away side not afraid to go more direct when need be. That tactic paid dividends for their first goal. The away side always seemed the more switched on at set-pieces and second balls. See their second goal for the evidence of that one. For Callum Davidson's team, it's now worryingly long time since they won at home. They'll be hoping their post-split fixtures are away-heavy or they may get dragged into a relegation fight. With an xG of 0.8 to County's 0.9, more shots, more touches in the box, and more passes into the final third, a clinical edge is needed, and fast. St Johnstone manger Callum Davidson: "First half I'd say was probably a pretty scrappy affair, pretty even. We're attacking and then we concede from a corner, it was a clearance, and it was a really poor goal [to concede] in the 49th minute. "If you lose goals like that, in a game like this, it makes it very hard to win. We know the conditions are tough, you saw a lot of bobbles on the pitch." Ross County manager Malky Mackay: "I think we kept that mentality that we showed from last Sunday going, we were playing a tough game, tough team, tough surface. "We made them defend in areas that were tricky for them because of the surface."
Ross County
Manager	Malcolm (Malky) Mackay
Starting 11	1: Ross Laidlaw, 2: Connor Randall, 4: David Cancola 1, 6: Alexander Iacovitti 1, 11: Joshua Sims, 14: Victor Loturi, 16: George Harmon, 26: Jordan White, 27: Eamonn Brophy, 30: Dylan Smith, 42: Nohan Kenneh 1
Bench	21: Ross Munro, 7: Owura Edwards, 9: Dominic Samuel, 15: Keith Watson, 17: Simon Murray 1, 19: Jordy Hiwula-Mayifuila, 35: Zach MacPhee, 38: Jamie Williamson, 49: Josh Stone 1
Saint Johnstone
Manager	Callum Davidson
Starting 11	Remi Matthews, James Brown, Liam Gordon, Ryan McGowan, David Wotherspoon, Drey Wright, Adam Montgomery, Melker Hallberg, Daniel Phillips 1, Stevie May, Zak Rudden
Bench	Tony Gallacher, Alex Mitchell, Theo Bair, Cameron MacPherson 1, Ross Sinclair, Graham Carey, Connor McLennan, Jamie Murphy, John Moreland