Partick Thistle 0 - 1 Ross County: County procession goes on

Consistent is a barely adequate way of describing the manner in which, week by week, Ross County see off each and every one of their First Division opponents en-route to their soon-to-be-confirmed coronation as champions. The Highland side’s fans and statisticians will look in awe at their unbeaten run now reaching 27 games and such is the unrelenting precision by which they go about their business it’s quite conceivable that the sequence will extend all the way to the end of the campaign on 5 May. Their ability to keep grinding out results whilst everyone one else has stumbled brings far from universal acclaim however, and the Partick Thistle fans were the latest to render choruses of “Boring, boring, County” as a goal from Colin McMenamin just on half-time was just enough yet again to see the visitors over the line. The theme was picked up in some tetchy comments by the respective managers after the game – Jackie McNamara and County’s Derek Adams already have a bit of previous of course, with the latter having reacted with some venom to a suggestion by McNamara that the Dingwall club probably had the largest playing budget in the division. Indications that they might not be sharing a cordial post-match beer were not slow in coming. “They’re not pretty on the eye,” observed the Thistle manager, “and I know it’s always important to get the first goal against them to get them to come out and play.” The feisty Adams, who was clearly expecting something along these lines, seemed to relish the jibes, remarking that the taunts from the Thistle fans were an encouraging sign. “If the crowd are talking about us that’s good – it shows they’re up against it. It was difficult to play any football today, as the pitch had been used for rugby last night.” If only the exchanges on the field of play had been just as intriguing, the home fans at least might not have felt quite so inclined to vent their spleen. Their side did shade a largely incident-free opening 45 minutes in terms of possession, but despite some thoughtful build-up play they just could not conjure up that decisive final pass. At the other end, the Highlanders were far from their most enterprising, finding the home side no slouches themselves when it came to disciplined defending. The resourceful Michael Gardyne and Rocco Quinn were largely peripheral, but that clinical streak that has powered County so far ahead of the pack was to surface again right on the cusp of the interval. From a set piece, Stuart Kettlewell’s header dropped benignly for McMenamin barely a stride from the goal line and the experienced striker duly nudged it into the net. The pattern remained remarkably similar after the break with McNamara’s men continuing to show plenty of spirit and graft but sadly short on enterprise. Both keepers could have nipped off for a mid-afternoon snooze such was the lack of threatening activity. For County this was all according to plan and they looked completely at ease as Thistle laboured to get decent deliveries into the box. Christie Elliot did manage to beat his marker at the near post following a corner but his header was well wide, and another promising move involving the same player which culminated in him being simply out-muscled by the combined attentions of the unerring Scott Boyd and Grant Munro partnership summed up the near futility of home side’s afternoon endeavours.