Late Olusanya goal denies County chance to move out of relegation play-off place
Toyosi Olusanya’s late strike for St Mirren denied Ross County three points that would have moved them out of the relegation play-off place in the cinch Premiership.
Jordan White had given the hosts a first-half lead in Dingwall, making the most of an Alex Gogic mistake to put the Staggies ahead in the 11th minute.
St Mirren fought valiantly for an equaliser but they had to be patient, with Olusanya’s goal eventually coming in the 86th minute.
There was just one change between the two starting XIS – Eli King coming into County’s line-up in place of Teddy Jenks.
The visitors had not settled when a mistake at the back gifted County the opening goal.
Gogic attempted to pass the ball back to his goalkeeper, only for White to nip in ahead of Zach Hemming and round the Buddies goalkeeper before rolling the ball into an empty net for his sixth goal of the season in all competitions.
County had to be on their guard to prevent a quick St Mirren response, with keeper George Wickens diving to his right to keep out Caolan Boydmunce’s deflected strike.
It was a similar story at the start of the second half, with Lewis Jamieson this time cutting inside from the right flank and forcing an acrobatic stop from Wickens.
St Mirren continued to put the pressure on their hosts and as the clock ticked down, Stephen Robinson threw on some fresh legs to give the visitors fresh impetus going forward. It worked as Keanu Baccus’headersentolusanyagoalsideofloickayinatofinishinto the bottom corner.
County remain 11th, while St Mirren move to within a point of fourth-placed Kilmarnock.
Afterwards a relieved Olusanyasaid:“it’sahardplacetocome to, we’re just happy we didn’t lose. We did what we could and got what we deserved.”
White was left to rue a missed opportunitytoclaimavitalwin. “It’s really disappointing to not come away with three points,” said the County striker. “We defend as a team, we score as a team. We’ll look at it tomorrow. It's a hard one to take.”