St Johnstone and Ross County had to settle for a 0-0 draw in the cinch Premiership as neither side could find a cutting edge in an otherwise lively encounter.

Both teams hit the woodwork in the opening 10 minutes through Stevie May and Kazeem Olaigbe, but that was as close as they would get to a goal.

The second half followed in a similar fashion with both sides creating chances but unable to convert their opportunities.

Both sides struggled to find a clinical touch in the final third, with only one shot on target apiece at full-time.

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St Johnstone boss Callum Davidson made just one change to the side that beat St Mirren 3-0, with Liam Gordon returning to the starting XI. Malky Mackay made three changes to his Ross County side, last in action in a 1-1 draw against Aberdeen, with William Akio, Olaigbe and Keith Watson in from the start.

It was a lively start to the match with both sides having shots cannon back off the woodwork in the opening 10 minutes.

Melker Hallberg and Drey Wright combined well down the right-hand side for the home team, with the latter's cross finding an unmarked May whose reverse shot rebounded off the upright.

Moments later, the ball ping-ponged around in the St Johnstone box after a superb drive forward from Akio with his shot ultimately blocked. Olaigbe reacted quickest to the ricochet but his snap-shot rattled the crossbar.

Olaigbe continued to be a bright spark as he drove forward again for County, bursting through the middle of the park and carving out space inside the box to get a shot away, but he dragged his low effort well wide of the far post.

After a slight lull in proceedings, Andy Considine went close with a header before Nicky Clark followed up from close range, but both were denied by Remi Matthews.

Towards the end of the first half, Akio found space on the edge of the box but failed to pick out a team-mate with his cutback and it was a similar theme for both sides throughout.

Ross County came close after 56 minutes as Alex Iacovitti managed to pick out David Cancola after some sustained pressure. The midfielder's edge-of-the-area drive was held by Matthews despite its ferocity.

With the game remaining goalless, Halberg drove the home side forward and picked out Adam Montgomery, with the on-loan Celtic defender's cutback landing in the ideal spot for Murphy to fire goalward. His attempt crept narrowly wide of the post as both sides began to wonder if a goal was coming.

In the final few minutes of the game, Ali Crawford went close from inside the area after Wright's initial effort was blocked but failed to keep his attempt down as it went narrowly over the bar.

What the managers said

St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson: "I thought we were good and worked it in good areas in the first half. We passed the ball quite well. The game plan worked.

"I thought we were probably second best in the first half, but the second we started well and really came into the game.

"Two or three boys today played who hadn't trained all week. Jamie Murphy was struggling with an injury. Ryan McGowan was struggling as well but managed to train on Friday.

"I got good minutes out of them and we got a good spark from the ones who came on."

Ross County manager Malky Mackay: "Hard-fought point, good clean sheet. Probably in the first half, it was a bit of basketball, both teams attacking each other, we hit the bar and they hit the post.

"I thought in the second half we came out with real intent and pushed St Johnstone back a bit, and I thought we ended up quite dominant in the wide areas.

"I'm just disappointed slightly with the quality in the final third because I thought that was what was going to win it today.

"We've spoken in there in terms of the final pass, final cross, and the final strike because we were getting into great positions.

"At the end, obviously, I threw on five substitutions to try go and win the game and the pleasing thing was the five substitutions came on and all impacted the game."

What's next?

St Johnstone will return from the international break with a trip to Dundee United on October 1.

Ross County host Hibs on the same day. Both matches kick-off at 3pm.

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