A point apiece with both sides edging away from Premiership streetfighters Hamilton Accies in bottom place left both Kilmarnock and Ross County reasonably satisfied after a relegation six-pointer that was far more entertaining than teams in their positions usually serve up.
Twice the Dingwall men came from behind, with a hectic opening 16 minutes that saw Michael Gardyne almost immediately cancel out Chris Burke’s third minute volley before Mitch Pinnock restored the hosts’ lead.
Alex Iacovitti’s header rescued a deserved point for John Hughes’ men who were the better team up until that point, before Tommy Wright’s charges wrestled control of the game for the final 20 minutes without succeeding in their efforts to find a winner.
It moved Killie two points clear of Accies, but they remain a point behind County and Wright admitted he had to be satisfied with a draw.
He said: “It’s a good point and it’s a point away from the bottom of the table and we’ve still got a lot to play for. I think overall we could have no complaints. We didn’t play as well as we could, but we got a point.
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“I think it is encouraging we’re scoring goals. If you’re talking about performance overall, how I like the team to play and how they have been playing, it’s probably been of our poorer ones and the players know that. But we still scored two goals.
“You have to give the opposition credit as well, they made it difficult for us, physical and won a lot of second ball.”
The hosts couldn’t have dreamed for a better start when they took the lead in the third minute. A corner from Pinnock wasn’t cleared and when Keith Watson lobbed a defensive header high into the air right into the path of the onrushing Burke and the veteran Killie midfielder volleyed it into the net.
Yet it took the Highlanders just two minutes to restore parity when a touch from Billy Mckay from a Jason Naismith ball forward set Michael Gardyne away and he cut inside before lashing the ball past Colin Doyle for an immediate reply to give him his first goal of the season.
The goals continued in the 19th minute when Killie regained their lead. A Zech Medley free kick found Pinnock with his back to the goal at the edge of the box. The winger used his strength to hold off close defensive attention, before swiftly executing a 180-degree turn and whipping a low shot that seemed to go through Ross Laidlaw.
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County were the better team in the first half and Jordan White headed against the bar after the restart before Ross Draper then sent a point blank header wide from an Iain Vigurs cross as the hail started to gather on the Rugby Park surface. The visitors finally took one of their chances in the 55th minute when they deservedly levelled, but it was a really poor goal for Killie’s point of view when Iacovitti headed home a Vigurs corner into the net.
County continued to pass up chances and none more so than Gardyne who stroked the ball wide from 15 yards after sub Harry Paton’s first action was to cut a perfect ball back to him.
The visitors complained about a flying challenge from Kyle Lafferty on Vigurs which caused the County man to have to go off with a bloodied face.
Back came Killie and it took a fine save from Laidlaw in the last minute to push away a low shot from Burke, but that would have been extremely harsh on County.
And Hughes shared his counterpart’s satisfaction with the outcome. He said: “I thought we would have got more than a point. In saying that, we have Ross Laidlaw to thank for the save in the last minute, but we created the better chances.
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“Ross Draper should have scored, Michael Gardyne should have scored and we hit the woodwork. We played some nice football, so I am a little bit disappointed to go up the road with only a point, but we gave ourselves a mountain to climb with that goal early on.
“We just couldn’t put the ball in the net at times, but this keeps us in front of Kilmarnock and there is all to play for.
“I saw a team that is battling to stay in the league. You take the positives, galvanise ourselves and keep going for next time.”
Star man: Michael Gardyne (Ross County)
Kilmarnock (4-2-3-1): C Doyle 6 — A McGowan 6, K Broadfoot 5, Z Medley 5, B Haunstrup 5 — A Power 6, G Dicker 6 - M Pinnock 7, R McKenzie 5 (G Kiltie 71min), C Burke 7 — K Lafferty 5. Booked: McKenzie, Lafferty, Power.
Ross County (4-4-2): R Laidlaw 6 —J Naismith 6, K Watson 6, A Iacovitti 7, C Tremarco 6 —
M Gardyne 7 (J Hylton 80), J Tillson 6 (H Paton 69, 4), R Draper 6, I Vigurs 7 (S Kelly 76) — J White 6, B Mckay 7 (R Charles-Cook 80). Booked: Tilson, Naismith, Vigurs.
Referee: W Collum.
