Due to injuries there were several changes. Brian McGinty and Junior Mendes were back, whilst Kirk Broadfoot made his first team debut in a defence with the oldest player being Paul Rudden at 22! Meanwhile Ross County had former Saint Steven McGarry starting, and Alex Bone on the bench.
Not surprisingly, with an inexperienced defence Ross County pushed forward a fair bit, and could have scored a fair number of times early on. Saints best chance, meanwhile, came after some good build up play put Brian McGinty. However, he screwed his shot wide of the post. Once again the herocis of Ludo Roy at the other end of the pitch saved us, however with about 10 minutes of the half remaining Saints took the lead.
Ricky Gillies had some shocking control however somehow wasn't dispossesed. He played it to Martin Cameron, who played a pass a bit to far ahead of Junior Mendes. Not to worry, as Mendes' pace easily beat that of County goalkeeper Tony Bullock and he lobbed the keeper from the edge of the box. A great goal, though the lead was probably undeserved.
Just minutes later Broadfoot gave away an unnecessary corner. It was part inexperience and part lack of shouting from Roy, as Broadfoot could easily have left it. Whilst the first corner was cleared for another corner, the second corner resulted in Brian Irvine putting it in the top corner for 1-1. The only other high point of the first half was when McGarry tried to play the ball into the box and only succeeded in hitting it out for a goal kick!
The second half was more of the same, with County probably having the better of the action. Cameron wasn't up to his usual best, and messed up a few good chances. Admittedly it is a bit hard jumping for the ball when you are being held down by a defender, something which the referee decided wasn't a foul! The referee was awful yesterday for both sides, turning down several good penalty and free kick claims. During the second half McGarry was subbed and received a round of applause from the Northbank.
With a few minutes to go County had some good chances, but Saints could have won it when Cameron tried an overhead kick which went just over the bar. Just before this Mark Yardley had been penalised for supposedly flattening someone when jumping for the ball. Hmmm.
So the game finished 1-1 and it was an encouraging performance from the youngsters, especially Jamie Dunbar. Obviously we aren't going to mount a promotion challenge, but I didn't expect us to before the season started, as long as we stay up I'll be happy.
On the 125th birthday of the club and a day when we wer elooking at the past, the encouraging performance of the young players gives us something to look forward to in the future.