Staggies boss McIntyre’s

PARTICK TH 1 Welsh (pen, 25) ROSS COUNTY 1 Burke (90+5)

BOTH teams extended their winless runs here (Thistle to nine and County to seven) but it was the Highlanders who left feeling as though they’d been cheated out of a win.

Staggies boss Jim McIntyre is convinced his side would have won if they’d been awarded a penalty with eight minutes left on the clock.

“The key moment in the game was when the referee should have given us a penalty,” he said.

“It was a stonewaller, every bit as much as theirs was.

“We’ve been punished lately with red cards and rightly so because they were the right decisions but we need to get them in our favour as well.

“I spoke to the referee afterwards but the bottom line is that he hasn’t given it.

“I’m not here to criticise referees but he’s made a mistake and ultimately that could have cost us three points.”

It took a long time for this game to heat up.

However, the home side were first to rouse themselves and they took the lead when Ryan Dow foolishly shoved Kris Doolan off the ball as the latter attempted to reach a Sean Welsh corner.

There were no arguments when referee Don Robertson pointed to the spot.

Welsh confidently drove the resulting penalty straight down the middle while