St Johnstone 1-1 Ross County

Ross County were relegated from the Scottish Premiership as they drew at St Johnstone.

Craig Curran scored an early goal that for an hour looked like saving the Staggies from automatic demotion.

But Kris Doolan netted a second-half winner for Partick Thistle at Dundee to secure a Premiership play-off and send County into the Championship.

David Wotherspoon's late goal for Saints proved irrelevant for County as victory would not have been enough.

• Demoted County to 'come back fighting '

As County's six-year top-flight stint ends, Partick Thistle finish 11th and will face Livingston in a two-legged play-off.

The visitors came to Perth knowing victory was essential with no room for any other result if they were to survive in the Premiership.

Craig Curran's back-post finish was the perfect start for Ross County

Despite the pressure, the Staggies started purposefully and were rewarded early on.

Jason Naismith broke down the right and, after his cross took a deflection and fell perfectly for Curran, he made no mistake at the back post.

It was exactly the kind of fortune that County believe they have been missing, and Curran's positional instinct was fully rewarded.

The visitors continued to push forward ensuring they were the side generating pressure rather than coping with it.

Michael Gardyne profited from a neat exchange on the right and fired towards goal but it was comfortable for goalkeeper Alan Mannus in his last St Johnstone appearance before departing for Ireland.

St Johnstone began to respond and Scott Tanser was the first to really trouble County's goal with a floated, angled effort that flew narrowly over the bar.

The visitors nearly got the second when a diagonal from Marcus Fraser found Curran. His header fell to Matthias Kait on the edge of the box and at the second attempt he crashed a shot off the bar.

Curran's chipped effort from 25 yards drew a fine stop from Mannus.

David Wotherspoon scored a late goal to earn St Johnstone a point

St Johnstone opened the second half brightly but County's Billy Mckay broke away and cut back for Naismith, whose fierce, low shot flew across the six yard area with Curran unable to get there for another tap in.

The home side did have the ball in the net midway through the second half but the offside flag halted any celebration.

County should have had a second when Curran found space but somehow pulled it wide from a great position.

As news filtered through that Partick Thistle has taken the lead, the sting came out of this contest.

County's fate was sealed when Wotherspoon fired a wonderful effort home with the last kick of the match.

For St Johnstone, it was a day of goodbyes, with Mannus, Chris Millar and Steven MacLean departing.

Saints boss Tommy Wright was less than impressed with his side's display against Ross County

POST-MATCH REACTION

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright: "The performance was typical of what we've been at home this season, I don't know what it is. We can go to Motherwell and play the way we did last week, we go to Celtic, Rangers, Hibs, in front of bigger crowds and, with all due respect, better teams and play well, but at home we've struggled all season.

"For 80 minutes today we weren't at the races in any aspect of the game, other than we've stayed in it. It was brutal at times for me to watch.

"The last 10 minutes was the only period of the game that we showed any energy or quality, and we could've scored two goals - that really would've been a mugging job because we didn't deserve three points.

"It was a nice way to end the game to get a late goal."