First team

Match Preview - St Johnstone (H)

20/09/2024

The Staggies remain on home turf for another important, and very exciting William Hill Premiership clash.

The visitors travelling up the A9 this weekend are managerless St Johnstone – who are going through a turbulent time.

This week, St Johnstone chairman Adam Webb revealed he had been diagnosed with cancer and will be taking a temporary step back. Everyone at Ross County FC wishes him all the best and a speedy recovery.

Saturday's clash takes place at the Global Energy Stadium, with the standard kick-off time of 3:00 PM.

St Johnstone

As mentioned, a lot is going on at the Perthshire club at the moment.

During the week, Craig Levein was given his marching orders by the hierarchy, in what was a largely unexpected move.

Former Brechin City boss Andy Kirk, Levein’s number two, will take charge of the club and handle proceedings for their trip north to Dingwall.

St Johnstone have been hit a number of suspensions in recent weeks, and that continues for Saturday as strikers Adama Sidibeh and Benji Kimpioka are both sidelined with bans.

Under Levein, the last four matches have been losses – however, they do have one big victory this campaign as they impressively defeated Kilmarnock 3-0 at Rugby Park.

Saints are perched just one place below the Staggies in the table in 10^th, two points behind their hosts of the weekend.

Player to watch

Due to suspensions, Nicky Clark is very likely to be leading the line for the visitors.

A player who has played for a number of clubs in Scotland – he scores goals whoever he plays for.

The former Dundee United striker is dangerous in and around the box and is someone that the Staggies backline will need to keep a close eye on.

He is no stranger to scoring against the Staggies, but he has been limited to just three touches in the opposition box this season. However, he is the type of player who doesn’t need to see lots of the ball to grab goals.

Ross County

The Staggies head into the match full of confidence after a fantastic result and magnificent performance against Dundee.

Jordan White netted a penalty after Akil Wright headed in to give Ross County all three points.

After what had been a difficult few weeks results-wise, that clean sheet and victory is a real shot in the arm for the club.

Don Cowie will hope that his players can back up their win with another positive result at home.

New signings Kacper Lopata and Eli Campbell were both part of a backline which looked tremendously strong facing up against former County talisman Simon Murray.

They will both be hoping to retain their places come Saturday alongside goalscorer Akil Wright.

Player to watch

When the signing of Joshua Nisbet was first linked online, I don’t think many County fans actually expected that it would come to fruition, given the worldwide competition for his signature.

When Don Cowie revealed at a presser that he would indeed be travelling across the globe from Australia to put pen to paper in Dingwall, Staggies fans were delighted and eager to him in action.

And that has proven to all be for good reason, as the little Aussie international has shown exactly what he can bring to the team in just two appearances so far.

Comfortable in possession, quick and clever – Nisbet will be the man running the matches for County this season.

He can take the ball and really dictate the tempo in the middle, as he showed perfectly last week vs Dundee.

His low centre of gravity and tendency to draw fouls make him an absolute nightmare for fellow midfielders trying to get the ball off him.

From the Dugout with Don Cowie

By Roy Templeton

If County boss Don Cowie isn't familiar with the joys of doing a jigsaw, he's likely to be reviewing that pretty sharpish.

Over the last few months, he's been trying, piece by piece, to build a squad that can mix it with the rest of the Scottish Premier clubs.

As any lover of the picture puzzle game will tell you, that often results in pieces being placed where they look to be fitting, only to discover later that they should have gone elsewhere. A few bits might even get a bit misshapen as they're squeezed into places that they shouldn't have been squeezed into.

Saturday's entertaining game against Dundee finally saw the County jigsaw look like it might be getting close to the finished article.

Even then, as is so often the case in any contact sport, you've still got to roll with the punches, with George Harmon the unfortunate recipient of a nasty-looking swollen ankle which resulted in a defensive shuffle. George has been wearing a protective boot over his ankle this week, but the good news is that an x-ray showed no break, so fingers crossed it's not too serious an injury.

Despite that early defensive change, however, County looked solid at the back, creative in midfield with Noah Chilvers a constant threat, and dangerous up front where Jordan White and Ronan Hale looked a striking combination that can cause headaches for any defence.

And the good news for County fans is that Cowie believes his summer jigsaw-building now gives him competition for every place in the team, with some roles even having three players vying for a single position.

Akil Wright's signing was one that Cowie had targeted from last season and his performances so far are delighting both his manager and the County fans.

"Akil has had to adapt to both the way we play and to Scottish football but I believe he's someone that can really flourish in this league.

"He was someone we identified at the end of last season and we had to be really patient to get him to the club.

"But he's mobile, strong, comfortable on the ball and he's grown in the last two games and looks confident. Now it's about maintaining that and trying to improve even more.

"I think there's more to come from him and I'm delighted with the way he's performed in the last two games," said Cowie.

Having Barnsley loanee Kacper Lopata alongside also appears to have benefitted Wright.

"Kacper beside him has been that real organiser, which has allowed Akil to maybe release himself a bit more and feel more confident within the game. It's been a bit disruptive up until that point, with Ricki Lamie and Will Nightingale getting injured.

"But I think you can see the difference when you've got that settled defence," said Cowie.

Another piece of the jigsaw saw the arrival of Noah Chilvers, who put in a polished performance against Dundee. County have had to be patient with Chilvers too as he wasn't attached to a club and took a bit longer to get up to the pace of the Scottish game.

The County frontline also pleased Cowie on Saturday, in particular Jordan White taking responsibility for the club's third penalty of the season.

Following two misses, Jordan made it clear before the game that he wanted to take any penalty given and his cool strike for the second goal gave County a great buffer as they went in two up at half time.

"Getting penalties means you are playing in your opposition's box and they can change games when you convert them. Jordan was adamant he wanted to take any - and you saw the result," said Cowie.

Now the Staggies boss is looking for another win on Saturday against managerless St Johnstone, with a victory pushing them up the table and creating a gap between the clubs below.

"St. Johnstone are a good side and we know they've got players that can cause problems but if we can build on last weekend we'll have a great chance of winning the points, "he concluded.

Previous Encounters

Our matches against St Johnstone are often closely contested, as the past few seasons have shown.

In the penultimate match of last season, Ross County favourite Yan Dhanda cruised past three defenders and lashed home sending us one nil up. However, we were unable to hold onto all three points as Adama Sidibeh netted in the dying embers.

We tasted victory over the Perth side last season, defeating them 2-0 in the second match of the season. Kyle Turner opened the scoring and Connor Randall added a second with a stunning strike.

In the return fixture at McDiarmid Park, we lost out 1-0, in a match which turned out to be last in the tenure of Malky Mackay.

Derek Adams side suffered the same result in Dingwall, where Benjamin Kimpioka netted in a one-nil loss.

In the last meeting between the sides two seasons ago, there were six goals to be had. Jack Baldwin scored a rocket in the 90th minute, but the Saints came back five minutes into stoppage time and claimed a point.

Regan Charles-Cook netted a double against St Johnstone in a home tie in Malky Mackay’s first season in charge. Joe Hungbo added to the scoring with a stunning volley that day to claim a big 3-1 win for the Staggies.

Familiar Faces

Former club captain Keith Watson also spent time at St Johnstone, Ross Callachan has also worn the blue of the Saints.

League Cup winners Brian Graham and Richard Foster played for both sides, as well as Staggie hero Paul Lawson.

Memorable Match

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RfHRwMLS4c&pp=ygUbcm9zcyBjb3VudHkgdnMgc3Qgam9obnN0b25l

Refereeing Team

Referee: Dan McFarlane

AR1: Dougie Potter

AR2: Steven Traynor

VAR: Greg Aitken

AVAR: Alan Mulvanny

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