Date	Tuesday, 01 February 2022
Competition	Scottish Premiership
Fixture/Score	Ross County 1:1 Aberdeen
Venue	Global Energy Stadium at Victoria Park
Attendance	3,343
Referee	Alan Muir
Comments	Match Report Report by Jack Herrall for the BBC. Ross County 1 Aberdeen 1 Ross County "showed great resilience" to stay five points clear of the Scottish Premiership relegation play-off spot after a tightly-contested draw with Aberdeen, says boss Malky Mackay. Jonny Hayes opened the scoring just after the interval for Stephen Glass' side, but County levelled with a Ross Callachan strike five minutes later. "I think over the piece it was a fair result," said Mackay. "I thought we showed great resilience to get one back after going one down against a good team with a big squad." Despite the draw, Aberdeen remain in the top half of the division, with other results going their way. The Pittodrie side are now four points off fourth place with a game in hand. Lewis Ferguson had an early header on target but Ross Laidlaw met it comfortably, before Alex Iacovitti found himself marauding into the opposition's box, but failed to get on the end of a Joseph Hungbo cross. Dylan McGeouch, on his return to the Aberdeen squad, had a half-chance with a volley from the edge of the box but it was too tepid an attempt to worry Laidlaw. Despite the opening half hour not exactly having an abundance of chances, the game sparked into life with two long-range chances in the space of as many minutes from the away side. First, Funso Ojo gathered the ball 20-yards from goal and had a snap-shot, but Laidlaw was able to palm it to safety. Then County looked to break from an Aberdeen set-piece but Ferguson retrieved the ball in the middle of the park before unleashing a 30-yard strike at goal that narrowly whistled past. County weren't too happy with being upstaged at home and responded by creating one of the first-half's best chances. The league's top scorer Regan Charles-Cook got a shot off from a tight angle and Jordan White followed up on the rebound after a Joe Lewis save, but Scott Brown denied him from a yard off of the line. Stephen Glass won't have been pleased with his side's lack of creativity in the first-half and his side clearly got the message. Brown gathered in midfield and played a long, high ball down the left that Jonny Hayes latched on to. The winger drove into the box, shrugging off Keith Watson, and fired a left-footed shot back across goal and into the bottom corner. County had obviously been given the same team-talk from their manager. Just minutes later, Callachan slipped in Charles-Cook, who cut back out and attempted a curling effort. It deflected out to the edge of the box and Callachan had followed it in and his venomous shot skipped up off the grass and passed a helpless Lewis. Laidlaw kept the game level late on with two big saves, first from a Hayes shot after a slick passing move from Aberdeen and the keeper got down well to deny a close-range from the resulting corner. Harry Paton had the game's best chance to win it from the centre of the box saved by Lewis. County may be at the wrong end of the table but they don't play like it. Charles-Cook may not have been on the scoresheet but he was involved in the majority of their attacking endeavours, including the goal. White and Dominic Samuel led the line well for the hosts but neither looked likely to score. Charles-Cook, and his counterpart on the opposite flank Hungbo, cannot be tasked with being the only creative sparks for Mackay's side, though. For a game lacking in quality in front of goal, Aberdeen still managed to rack up 18 shots but only seven of them on target. The Pittodrie side did not sign a striker to help Christian Ramirez and looked incapable of changing up top, even if new signing Vicente Besuijen looked good in flashes. The game was there to be won but they looked like a side who had ran out of ideas as half-chances came and went. Ross County manager Malky Mackay: "I think over the piece it was a fair result. There weren't many chances created. "I thought we showed great resilience to get one back after going one down against a good team with a big squad. We're one defeat in seven now at home and that is testament to the players' attitude." Aberdeen manager Stephen Glass: "I feel like it is two points dropped. It is obviously a lot better than the performance last week, so I'm happy with that but you can't really be happy when you don't win. "It's been the story of the season, we had a lot of the play and didn't do enough in the final third, it's the same every week."
Ross County
Manager	Malcolm (Malky) Mackay
Starting 11	1: Ross Laidlaw, 3: Jake Vokins, 8: Ross Callachan 1, 10: Dominic Samuel 1, 15: Keith Watson, 16: Alexander Iacovitti, 17: Regan Charles-Cook 1, 19: Kayne Ramsay, 22: Jordon Tillson 1, 23: Joseph Hungbo, 26: Jordan White
Bench	21: Ross Munro, 2: Connor Randall, 6: Harrison Paton 1, 9: Alexander Samuel, 20: Declan Drysdale, 30: Matthew Wright, 32: Adam Mackinnon
Aberdeen
Manager	Stephen Glass
Starting 11	Joe Lewis, Ross McCrorie, Jonny Hayes 1 1, Calvin Ramsey, David Bates, Scott Brown 1, Vicente Besuijen, Dylan McGeouch, Funso Ojo, Lewis Ferguson 1, Christian Ramirez
Bench	Jack MacKenzie, Declan Gallagher, Adam Montgomery, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Teddy Jenks, Dean Campbell, Gary Woods, Michael Ruth, Matthew Kennedy