County fail to find a way past Well as they sink to bottom
Ross County slid back to the foot of the Premiership, but caretaker-manager Steven Ferguson felt a point from a bruising battle with Motherwell could prove valuable in the survival fight.
A third game unbeaten for the Dingwall club did narrow the gap on Hamilton Accies to three points, but it was a day when spirited County hit a brick wall against the buoyant Scottish Cup finalists.
The Highlanders travel to face Hamilton Accies next weekend knowing an away triumph could be game-changing in the battle to escape relegation danger.
Ferguson said: “We take lots of positives today. We find ourselves back at the bottom of the league, but it’s never about what other teams are doing at this stage in the season – it is what we’re doing.
“We had to match Motherwell in the way they do things – and I felt we did that.
“Every one of our players, those who started and the ones who came on, really played their part in fighting for every little scrap.
“We’ll take this point and look forward to the remaining four games.
“It is in our hands – nothing changes. We’re not separated from the pack, we’re right in there.”
For Motherwell, it was a decent performance – and an 18th clean sheet of the season, one short of the club record.
But the stalemate stretched manager Steve Robinson’s search for a win in the league to six games.
The Fir Park men set the early pace, with pressure seeing a deflected Allan Campbell attempt inside three minutes. Scott Fox seemed to see it late, but dived to push it away from his left-hand post.
County settled and began to threaten, with the lively Alex Schalk’s through pass just too strong for Billy Mckay.
From a Schalk corner, Frenchman Christopher Routis headed wide and came off worst after being trodden on by Cedric Kipre before limping off to be replaced by Jason Naismith.
The Dingwall team’s best firsthalf chance came when Schalk’s lay-off found striker Billy Mckay hesitating a second too long before Marcus Fraser’s strike was blocked superbly by Charles Dunne.
Two close calls within a minute had County on the rack with Ryan Bowman’s strike brilliantly tipped past by Fox.
From the corner, Curtis Main’s strong header whistled just wide of target.
Late tension cranked up as both sides mustered chances, with Cedric Kipre making another timely block on a Marcus Fraser strike.
Motherwell manager Steve Robinson felt his team deserved a win but was left praying that injured Andy Rose can still make the Scottish Cup Final.
The Aussie midfielder fell awkwardly in an innocuous aerial encounter before being taken off with a suspected broken collarbone.
Robinson said: “Unfortunately, we have another injury with Andy Rose suffering a suspected broken collarbone.
“There was no intent or malice, in fact I don‘t think it was even a foul – he just went over the top.
“We’re still waiting for confirmation as to whether Andrew has broken it or not. It is suspected at this moment in time.
“We’re keeping our fingers crossed for him that it is maybe just how he has landed and it is bruising, but it will be a tough one to take if that’s the case.”