THE good news for Ross County is the team bottom on Hogmanay has survived in each of the last two seasons. The bad news is they failed to do so when last in such dire straits themselves.
That was a very different team in a very different time, and, given the chances squandered by Malky Mackay’s Staggies, tonight could so easily have had a very different outcome. No fatal blows were landed at Tannadice, but Connor Randall’s own goal, the returning Charlie Mulgrew’s header and a late Craig Sibbald stunner left County with it all to do come 2023.
While the defensive frailties remain, this was more like it from United in patches, and enough to drag them a point ahead of their relegation rivals.
"I am delighted with the result and aspects of the performance," said their manager, Liam Fox. "The team can enjoy this result but we are straight back into work tomorrow."
Having recovered from the horror collision that may have ended Craig Gordon’s career, Steven Fletcher once again led the line for United. Glenn Middleton and Ian Harkes played just behind him, but with one goal between the pair (five for the trio), it was an attack befitting a relegation-threatened team.
The same could be said for County’s, so the relative fireworks that followed came as a pleasant surprise.
“There is a light that never goes out,” read a pre-match banner in tribute to the late, great Jim McLean, marking two years since his passing, and how United could have done with his fire and brimstone this season. At least they showed that spirit in flitting moments.
Still, the early signs were encouraging for the home side. Ryan Edwards flashed a header just wide inside the first five minutes. The returning Charlie Mulgrew - playing for the first time since September - appeared to have a handle on Jordan White. Tannadice’s new ultras section - think what St Johnstone have done at McDiarmid and you’re on the right lines - tried to find its voice.
Then came the opener; the irony being it arrived amid County’s first few forays of their own.
A quick-thinking Mark Birighitti rolled the ball into Harkes’ path, sending United haring up the field where the America cunningly sprayed a pass across the pitch for Middleton. His first touch was sublime and the cross-cum-shot that followed had ample oomph to bamboozle Keith Watson and Connor Randall, the latter slicing into his own net.
For a few minutes after that, there was a slickness to United’s play. Craig Sibbald was key to that, the midfielder picking up pockets of space and pulling at County threads until a gap appeared. When one did - on this occasion, opened by Mulgrew - Fletcher’s brilliant header crashed against Ross Laidlaw’s post and bounced clear.
That missed chance felt key at the time, and even more so when Ross County recovered, grew into the half, and began to chip away at United’s ever-so-fragile defence. The first chance had come moments after the opener when a Mulgrew slip allowed Owura Edwards in, only for his finish to fall just the wrong side of the post.
Then, County had a flash of openings.
Yan Dhanda missed a fine opportunity to prey on the growing Tannadice anxiety when unmarked, his goal-bound shot cleared off the line by Ross Graham (shouts for a handball quickly dissipated), before the Staggies were themselves denied by the woodwork, Keith Watson’s header enduring the same fate as Fletcher’s.
Amid the groans from the stands, United’s earlier slickness already felt like a very distant memory.
The second half display more than made up for those moments of nervous tension. For a time, they even had County pinned inside their own half, Sibbald once again dictating the game’s ebb and flow. They came so close to doubling their lead, too, when the effervescent Fletcher was denied twice in quick succession; first when his audacious volley was blocked, then moments later by Laidlaw.
Unlike the first half, there was to be no County resurgence, despite Dhanda firing a free kick narrowly over. Instead, the game’s final act saw Mulgrew race ahead of his marker to nod home Middleton’s corner and secure three much-needed points for Liam Fox’s team.
There was a brief moment of Staggies joy when William Akio appeared to have sparked a comeback, only for VAR to rule an offside had occurred.
A bad night only got worse when Edwards was sent off after a second yellow and Sibbald got the goal his display deserved with the last kick of the ball.
Ross County manager Malky Mackay said: "I look at it tonight and think it was fine margins. That might sound laughable when you’ve been beaten 3-0, but we played well in spells."
