Ross County vs Aberdeen. Scottish Premiership.
Global Energy StadiumAttendance6,119.
Match report as Ross County draw at home to Aberdeen
Monday 20 May 2024 10:20, UK
Ross County will contest the Scottish Premiership relegation play-off after drawing 2-2 with Aberdeen.
St Johnstone's win at Motherwell meant the Staggies needed all three points against the Dons to secure safety.
And despite playing the last 26 minutes against 10 men and hitting the woodwork in stoppage time, the hosts could not find a winner which would have moved them up to 10th.
Ross County had made a fine start as Simon Murray gave them a fifth-minute lead.
Connor Randall's cross was only half-cleared by the Dons defence and County's top scorer Murray flicked the ball over his head before firing past Dons goalkeeper Kelle Roos and into the bottom corner.
The visitors responded well in Dingwall and equalised just after the half-hour mark.
Connor Barron dribbled past multiple County defenders and into the box, where he floated a cross towards the back post for Ester Sokler to power a header past County keeper Ross Laidlaw from close range.
County tried to come out swinging in the second half, with Randall hitting the outside of the post after receiving the ball inside Aberdeen's box from Yan Dhanda.
However, in the 50th minute Aberdeen took the lead, with Junior Hoilett getting to the byline before cutting the ball back for Jamie McGrath to tap in.
The Dons thought they had made it 3-1 shortly afterwards, with Sokler tapping in after Hoilett had hit the post, but the offside flag was raised.
But the complexion of the match was changed in the 64th minute.
A wayward header from Nicky Devlin looked to send Jordan White through on goal, but when he was pulled down by Angus MacDonald the referee pointed to the penalty spot and sent the Aberdeen defender off.
Dhanda stepped up to take it, and he sent Roos the wrong way to level the scores once again.
Needing a winner, the hosts pushed forward and Murray forced Roos into a good save just moments before Will Nightingale's long-range volley was deflected on to the crossbar.
Nightingale hit the post again in injury time, heading Dhanda's free-kick on to the frame of the goal, before White blazed over the bar from six yards out.
Try as they might, though, they could not find a winning goal and will have to beat Raith Rovers in a play-off to remain in the Premiership next season.
Ross County interim manager Don Cowie: "Firstly, credit to St Johnstone and Craig Levein for getting the result they
needed. Then it was up to us to match that, and we came up short but it wasn't through a lack of effort.
"The sending off helped us get real momentum, and we hit the post a couple of times. It just wasn't to be. We still managed to create a couple of really good opportunities, and we just weren't clinical enough.
"Aberdeen are a really good team, but we showed good character to get back into the game.
"I'm really proud of the group, they kept going, and we'll do the same on Thursday. You're not going to get any fitter at this time of the year, so it's a case of doing the bare minimum in training and making sure you're mentally ready.
"We'll look at Raith Rovers and study what they will bring to the game, then come up with a gameplan that will give us the best opportunity to get through the two legs."
Aberdeen caretaker boss Peter Leven: "I want to thank the fans, because the bottom six is not where we want to be
but they turned up in their numbers again.
"Hopefully they have enjoyed watching us over these last seven or eight games, but I have to credit the players as well because they have bought into what I wanted to do and played some great football.
"I would have liked more time to work with them, but there are good players there. You can see from the split, we've played some really good football. There's a great core there, and a good squad of players. Hopefully we can
take that momentum into next season."
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