St Johnstone verdict: Star man, player ratings and key moments as Saints held to 0-0 draw with Ross County

St Johnstone made it four points from two home games but this game had 0-0 written all over it for long spells.

If either side shaded the contest it was Saints but the two teams seemed very evenly matched.

Courier Sport assesses the last match before the international break.

Key moments

They both came within the first eight minutes when the woodwork was struck at either end.

First a Stevie May shot from outside the box rebounded off the post and into the arms of keeper Ross Laidlaw.

And then it was the turn for the hosts to enjoy a bit of good fortune when a Kazeem Olaigbe effort hit the underside of the bar but bounced on the right side of the line from a Perth perspective.

There were precious few goalmouth incidents thereafter.

Star man: Drey Wright

Wright picked up where he left off a fortnight ago.

His runs down the right were the likeliest avenue for a goal in this contest – one of them setting up May for the shot on to the post.

And you couldn’t fault the former Hibs man defensively.

Player ratings

Matthews 7, Wright 8, McGowan 6 (Davidson 6), Mitchell 7, Gordon 7, Considine 7, Montgomery 7, Hallberg 6, Murphy 5 (Crawford 6), May 6 (McClennan 6), Clark 7.

Manager under the microscope

An injury to Graham Carey denied Callum Davidson the opportunity to go with the same starting line-up that defeated St Mirren so convincingly.

And he opted to take Ryan McGowan out of defence and put him into central midfield, recalling captain Liam Gordon into his central defensive three.

Saints substitutes, Connor McLennan and Ali Crawford, made a good impact when they came on in the second half but it left you thinking changes could have been made earlier.

Man in the middle

It never felt as if Matthew McDermid was consistently getting the small decisions right but at least he didn’t make a glaring mistake for a big one.

Unfortunately that’s the benchmark for Scottish referees these days.

Nicky Clark claimed for a late penalty when he tried to beat Laidlaw to a Connor McLennan cross but it looked as if the goalie just got there first.