THERE was barely time to pause for breath in a pulsating encounter during which Dundee and Ross County share the spoils in a six-goal thriller that left both managers aggrieved at the performance of referee Craig Thomson.
County appeared to be comfortable at half-time holding a 3-1 lead courtesy of a James McPake own goal and a looping Michael Gardyne header after Greg Stewart had immediately cancelled out Liam Boyce’s opener.
The deficit was halved in the 54th minute as Rory Loy stroked home a penalty after Andrew Davies received a second booking for a foul on McPake inside the box, and Loy scored again with what proved to be the final goal 15 minutes later.
County kept their seven-match unbeaten run going with a performance that was both ruthless in attack and resolute in defensive, but their manager Jim McIntyre was unhappy with the decision to send his captain off and felt that his side were in control up until that point.
“The sending off was very soft,” said the County manager. “I don’t think it was a penalty or a booking. Those incidents happen all the time but we hardly ever see them given.”
McIntyre’s sense of injustice was furthered by the fact that Kevin Thomson should have been sent off after committing a number of fouls whilst on a booking.
He added: “Why was Kevin Thomson not sent off as well? He was already booked and he committed numerous fouls after that.
“Take nothing away from the boys though. If we had been offered a point away from home having to play almost half the match with 10 men we would have taken that.”
Both sides started the match brightly and looked to get forward at every opportunity. It was the visitors who took the lead in the 19th minute with a deadly counter attack from a Dundee free-kick. Jackson Irvine suddenly found himself with open grass in front of him and he powered up the field before releasing Boyce who showed all the traits of a striker high on confidence by evading a challenge with a neat stepover then drilling a left-foot shot past Scott Bain.
The noisy County faithful had barely finished the first verse of their celebratory chant before the sides were level. Stewart picked the ball up midway inside the visitors' half and drove at the heart of their defence. Kane Hemmings' run helped open up the space for Stewart who advanced unchallenged into the area before slotting past Scott Fox.
County regained the lead in the 37th minute when McPake could only steer a Marcus Fraser cross into his own net under severe pressure from Irvine.
When Irvine cut on to his right foot and delivered a deep cross which Gardyne headed beautifully over Bain in the 43rd minute, County appeared to be in a commanding position but things soon unravelled for the Dingwall side after the break.
Loy’s composed penalty had County on the ropes and the disappointing thing for Dundee manager Paul Hartley is that his side did not find a winner after Loy’s powerful right-footed shot drew his side level with over twenty minutes to play.
However, Hartley felt that his side should have had another penalty in the 76th minute when Stewart went down in the box under a challenge from
substitute Stewart Murdoch.
“We could have won the game,” he said. “It was a stonewall penalty. I’ve seen it again and Greg [Stewart] never goes down easily. Maybe the referee hasn’t given it because of the one he gave earlier, but it was definitely a penalty.’
Such an intriguing match was never likely to fizzle out without drama at the death and Riccardo Calder looked set to complete a stunning turnaround for the hosts with just seconds left after Gary Harkins sent a looping header towards the back post but Chris Robertson produced a vital clearance just as the Aston Villa loanee was about to tap home.
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