ST JOHNSTONE slumped to a disappointing 1-0 home defeat against Premiership strugglers Ross County.
The first half will definitely not live long in the memory banks with little to excite the fans in the stadium and those watching live on BT Sport.
Saints did have an opportunity within the first two minutes but Nigel Hasselbaink contrived to head over from a Lee Croft cross.
From then on, the match was a dull affair but it suddenly exploded into life in the 29th minute when Ross County took the lead.
Evangelos Oikonomou burst into the St Johnstone penalty area and rolled the ball back to Melvin De Leeuw who hit an angled shot into the corner of Alan Mannus’s net.
Saints though could and should have equalised just before half-time when Gary Miller swung a cross into the Staggies back post but unmarked home skipper Dave Mackay headed wide when he should have at least hit the target.
It was another Saints defender who had the next chance for the home side in the 58th minute when Steven Anderson rose highest to head a David Wotherspoon free-kick towards the County goal but his effort was cleared off the line by Filip Kiss.
St Johnstone came close again seconds later when Staggies goalie Mark Brown had to tip over a spectacular overhead kick from Stevie May.
Deep into stoppage time there was a big moment of controversy when an almighty stramash in the County box ended with Anderson heading into the net but the “goal” was chalked off by referee Bobby Madden to send the Staggies back up the A9 with all three points in the bag.