St Johnstone boss left frustrated by Highland defeat

St Johnstone missed a chance to leapfrog Dundee United into fourth place in the Scottish Premiership after a 1-0 defeat by Ross County at Dingwall.

Liam Boyce headed in the 84th minute winner to stretch the Staggies’ unbeaten surge to a remarkable seven victories and a draw.

Saints remain in good shape to secure a fourth consecutive top six finish but manager Tommy Wright was disappointed by the way County were allowed to put pressure on Allan Mannus’ goal.

He said: “There was no surprise in how they were going to approach the game. I thought we dealt with it Alan Mannus had one save.

“We’ve had to defend corners and balls into the box, but we gave them too many opportunities to do that.

“We talked about it too many cheap free-kicks.

“They had the opportunity to put the ball into the box at will, which builds pressure.

“When we went to three we looked a bit better in terms of passing and keeping it.

“But if the truth be told, it was looking like drifting out at 0-0, but that didn’t happen. We just didn’t clear our lines and they eventually got the goal.”