Mckay’s present for pal is icing on the cake
BILLY McKAY gift-wrapped the perfect birthday present for team-mate Don Cowie in the form of a last-gasp equaliser.
The Northern Ireland international struck in the fourth minute of stoppage time to rescue a point when all had seemed lost moments earlier.
And for midfield veteran Cowie, who turned 37 yesterday, it was the icing on the cake after he made his first Premiership start at home.
Mckay’s goal may also turn out to be pivotal in terms of the Staggies’ Premiership future, for had they lost this match, defeat would have dealt them a massive psychological blow.
Instead, the manner of their smash and grab should act as a timely morale-booster. Comanager Stuart Kettlewell certainly thinks so.
St Johnstone have turned their campaign around in dramatic fashion after spending the earlier part of the season in bottom spot.
Just four defeats in their last 16 top-flight matches now has them contemplating the previously unlikely prospect of a top-six finish.
They have also put distance between themselves and the stragglers, albeit they will also feel that the margin should have been greater.
Leading by Stevie May’s first half strike — his sixth goal since rejoining the club in the summer — Saints had repelled most of County’s efforts to square things.
They had also squandered two or three chances of their own to increase their advantage, but that seemed unlikely to matter in the final analysis with the referee poised to call time.
But County refused to throw in the towel and were rewarded for their determination when Mckay, from close range, converted Josh Mullin’s low cross.
The heavy nature of the pitch was most certainly not conducive to free-flowing football and precision passing.
But, having avoided the worst excesses of Storm Dennis, it was to the players’ credit they somehow managed to serve up a reasonably entertaining spectacle.
After creating the best of the early chances when Mullin struck the woodwork and Oli Shaw forced a save from Zander Clark, County were forced onto the back foot.
However, St Johnstone’s finishing was wayward to the extent that David Wotherspoon, Ali McCann and Scott Tanser all spurned chances to break the deadlock.
But May must much less profligate after playing a quick one-two with Chris Kane before drilling a low right foot shot wide of Ross Laidlaw from around 15 yards in the 33rd minute.
After just three Premiership wins in the best part of five months the loss of the first goal was the last thing jittery County needed.
And when they were thwarted in the main by St Johnstone’s well organised and sound defending, it looked bleak for the Staggies with time fast running out.
Mckay shaped to give the locals some hope of retrieving the situation in the 78th minute but his effort, while close, missed to the left of the target.
As the intensity of the rain increased, so, too, did County’s anxiety, especially when fate also conspired against them.
Iain Vigurs’ cross was spilled by Clark and Jason Kerr hit the loose ball against his own keeper and it rebounded along the goal-line before being hoofed clear.
But fortune favoured the brave when McKay pounced with almost the last action of the match.
Perhaps in a few months time over-achieving County and their fans will look back on the goal as the moment when their Premiership future was secured.
A relieved Kettlewell said: ‘We feel it shows massive character and how much the players care that they wanted to get something of the game.
;We didn’t see that in the first half. But we then changed our shape and we were far better in the second half.
‘It was never going to be pretty with the overhead conditions, but I felt in the second half we were dominant and got our reward.
‘This gives us a lot of hope, that feel-good factor of a last-minute goal. The big thing for us now is to make sure we that we make it a big point and look back on it as a valuable one.
‘When you find yourself a goal down it’s probably easy to go under at that point. But the players acted out the message well in the second half.’
Counterpart Tommy Wright offered a slightly different assessment after claiming that his side had dominated proceedings.
He added: ‘I don’t think they had one shot my keeper had to deal with in the second half.
‘It’s the same every time we play them, we’ve come away with less than we deserved.
‘But, in saying that, we should have defended right to the end. Instead, people switched off.
‘That allowed them back into the game when we should have been out of sight after missing three unbelievable chances in the last 10 minutes.’