Ross County 1-2 St Johnstone

Chris Kane's stunning late strike earned victory for St Johnstone over Ross County, and moved the Perth side within a point of fourth-placed Hearts in the Scottish Premiership.

Jay McEveley diverted a Blair Alston cross into his own net for the opener.

Martin Woods' second-half shot deflected into the path of Craig Curran, who duly levelled.

But substitute Kane's brilliant floating effort found the top corner in the final minute of normal time.

Same old Super J's

St Johnstone look certain for a top-six finish. They are chasing teams above them now having established an 11-point cushion in fifth place.

Kane's late winner was dramatic, timely and on balance looked deserved as Saints were the better side overall. They took their chances whereas County did not.

The loss of Murray Davidson to an early thigh injury was catered for with the introduction of Keith Watson, and a couple of positional changes.

They coped with that setback well, as they did when County equalised, and some refereeing decisions did not go their way.

Alston hit the post early on with a neat flick but Saints went ahead when the midfielder squared dangerously across the six-yard line.

Steven MacLean pressured McEveley enough to force the defender to touch into his own net.

Liam Craig cracked a post direct from a corner but the main source of frustration came when referee John Beaton somehow did not see Woods clearly handle Watson's header on the line.

They might also have had a penalty awarded when Richard Foster was caught on the edge of the box.

MacLean was very unlucky with a superb touch and shot which was brilliantly saved by Scott Fox.

The great thing about this squad is they deliver consistently and did so again. As the clocked ticked, Kane took control and his winner, soaring into the top corner, was a thing of beauty.

Home heartache

County's recent results at home have been damaging - this was their third straight defeat in Dingwall in all competitions, and the result adds pressure given the compact nature of the Premiership's bottom seven teams.

No significant damage was done in terms of league position but results like this might count further down the line.

There were key moments in this game that did not go their way.

Before St Johnstone's opener, Joe Shaughnessy appeared to handle in the box but whether that was intentional was unclear.

Craig Curran seized upon Martin Woods' deflected shot to level for Ross County

It is possibly more fruitful to consider things that can be directly controlled and Michael Gardyne blazed a fabulous chance miles over from inside which would have changed the complexion of the game.

When Gardyne redirected a long diagonal off an upright, you started to wonder if it was just not their day.

Liam Boyce was unlucky with a curling effort, as was Milan Lalkovic.

Their goal had a touch of fortune in that Woods' shot deflected straight to Curran, who delighted in curling home on his return to the starting line-up.

To lose the point so late in the game will be extremely frustrating, with a couple of testing fixtures to follow against Aberdeen and Hearts.

Ross County manager Jim McIntyre: "That's two weeks in a row we've lost a late goal and it's a real sickener given the effort we've put into the game.

"We got ourselves back into the game and didn't punish St Johnstone when we had the opportunity to.

"The most glaring opportunity was Gardyne's shot from eight yards which sailed over the bar. That was a big moment in the match.

"Nothing really changes. It's still very tight. Nothing is going to be decided over the next three or four games because you would class them as a harder run of fixtures.

"We've done it already this season at Ibrox and Tynecastle where we've put in really good performances and picked up points. There's nothing to say we won't go and do that again."

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright: "I thought we were excellent. I do think we deserved to win on the number of chances we created.

"We were good with the ball when in possession. We were excellent in terms of counter-attacking all day.

"We showed character again but it's a wonderful goal to win the game and it came at the right time.

"We knew if we beat them [Ross County] we'd go 13 [points] ahead of them and that's a big number to make up between now and when the split comes.

"We can't rest. We can't think we're in the top six. You've got to go out and do it week in, week out."