Who says you get nothing worthwhile for free in this life?
Having seen Tommy Wright struggle to
fill the void left by Stevie May over the past year, St Johnstone fans
might have viewed the recent capture of Graham Cummins – latterly of
Exeter City – with a certain degree of scepticism.
Yet, in firing the goal which
allowed St Johnstone to deservedly take a point from Jim McIntyre’s Ross
County side, the 27-year-old Cork native maintained his record of
netting in his side’s three opening Premiership fixtures this term. Rest
assured, there will be many more to come.
St Johnstone drew 1-1 with Ross County in their Scottish Premiership clash on Tuesday
For Wright, whose remarkable success
in Perth has largely been based on a solid defensive base, the sight of
his new man hitting the ground running could hardly be more welcome.
In the absence of stalwarts like
Dave Mackay, Steven Anderson and Fraser Wright, there’s a defensive
vulnerability about the McDiarmid Park side that’s not been witnessed in
many a long year. Cummins appears to be the panacea for that particular
ill, however.
His second half intervention came as
Saints rallied to shrug off a poor first half display. County were
markedly the better side in the first half here and might well have been
out of sight by the interval.
In Liam Boyce and Craig Curran –
their first-half scorer – County have an attacking partnership capable
of putting any relegation concerns behind them before the turn of the
year. Crucially the pair have better supply lines than last term.
McIntyre will be infuriated that his
side didn’t reproduce their sparkling first-half display in the second
period but will be consoled by the fact that in each of their outings
this season they have looked miles ahead of the side that toiled so
badly last term.
There was no question over which
side started with the greater intent. Just 75 seconds had elapsed when
Curran’s high boot on Brad McKay caused Alan Muir to dip into his pocket
earlier than he would imagined.
St Johnstone’s Liam Craig (right) holds off Ross County’s Marcus Fraser
It was indicative of just how
determined McIntyre’s men were to build on their weekend win over
Hamilton. Skipper Andrew Davies ought to have taken advantage of lax
Saints defending but, having been found by Michael Gardyne, he was
unable to power his header beyond Alan Mannus.
Saints belatedly realised there was a
game to be played. Graham Cummins, the scorer of a spectacular
equaliser against Inverness, rose well to meet Brian Easton’s corner
only for his header to land on the roof of the net.
The Irish striker fared better when
connecting with Liam Craig’s cross moments later, forcing Scott Fox into
a smart stop low to his right.
County, though, quickly regained the
initiative. Liam Boyce produced a peach of a touch to open up the
penalty box for Jackson Irvine. A somewhat clumsy first touch by the
Australian allowed Mannus to win the foot race.
Boyce, the stand-out talent in this
County side, showcased his game intelligence with the pass which
provided the opening goal after 17 minutes.
It had just the right pace and
accuracy to evade the home side’s central defence. Curran still had much
to do but advanced and finished smartly under Mannus’ body.
As the half-hour mark approached,
the visitors were well worth their slender lead. Imaginative and assured
in possession, they were everything St Johnstone were not.
The muddled efforts of the home side
were summed up in a corner nine minutes from the break. David
Wotherspoon’s execution was fine as was John Sutton’s goalbound header.
The man who blocked it two yards from goal? None other than his
team-mate Cummins.
They could easily have been facing a
two-goal deficit at the interval. Not for the first time, Gardyne’s
cross was poorly defended. Only the slightest of touches by McKay
ensured the concession of a corner rather than a goal.
Ross County’s Craig Curran (left) celebrates having opened the scoring
Three minutes from the whistle,
another sweeping County attack saw Boyce, Gardyne and Ian McShane
combine. Perhaps the latter had too much time to consider his options.
In any event, Mannus stooped to block.
While Michael O’Halloran was in the
mood, however, St Johnstone had hope. The winger’s blistering pace had
left Richard Foster in his wake several times in the first half and his
lung-bursting slalom on 51 minutes – which resulted in Marcus Fraser
clipping Cummins’ shot onto the post – was the finest moment of the
evening.
Just a minute later, a rather
truncated contribution resulted in the equalising goal. O’Halloran’s
cross from the right should have been meat and drink to the County
defence but a panicked clearance by Chris Roberston gave Cummins half a
chance.
Despite having some work still to
do, he finished clinically into the far corner. What a fine acquisition
the former Exeter man is proving.
It was a fine match, deserving of a crowd greater than the 3065 who left their homes on a perfect summer’s evening.
County might well have
re-established their lead with their next meaningful attack. Raffaele De
Vita did the hard part by jinking his way to the by-line but his cross
was behind Gardyne who was set to convert into an empty net.
The normally dependable Mannus then
played his side into bother when his weak slap at Fraser’s in-swinging
free-kick fell to De Vita. The Northern Irishman breathed a sigh of
relief as the Italian’s volley flashed a foot wide.
Tam Scobbie and Brian Easton were
deservedly booked for their cynical contributions with County’s
Robertson and Tony Dingwall also seeing yellow.
The game rather petered out in the closing 10 minutes but no one could question the entertainment value up until that point.
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