Inverness CT 1 Ross County 1

Ross County dug out what could be a precious point when a Gary Warren own goal handed the Scottish Premiership basement side a 1-1 derby draw in Inverness. The lifeline keeps them six points behind Motherwell, with Caley Thistle remaining third, level on points with Aberdeen and three behind Celtic, who have two games in hand. The teams' overall head-to-head record ahead of kick-off showed a 12-11 margin favouring the hosts. County two Friday signings were on the bench, with former Hearts midfielder Ruben Palazuelos drafted in alongside Italian attacker Raffaele De Vita. There were two changes for Inverness, with keeper Ryan Esson coming in for the injured Dean Brill and Marley Watkins in for the departed Billy Mckay. For County, Jackson Irvine returned to the starting line-up and Liam Boyce was promoted from the bench. Dropping to the sidelines were Steven Ross and Graham Carey. County keeper Antonio Reguero had to be lively early on to punch away a net-bound cross from Greg Tansey's corner and Martin Woods cleared the follow-up. At the other end, Boyce went for goal from distance but his shot flashed just past the right post. It was a scrappy contest and it did not improve until the 35th minute when Esson got down smartly to save a fine drive from County's Tony Dingwall after Marcus Fraser whipped in a dangerous cross. Moments later, the deadlock was broken when Watkins steered a terrific swerving shot past Reguero into the net after Tansey cleverly picked him out. The struggling Staggies were almost two behind by the break when Danny Williams guided a 20-yarder just wide of the left post. Five minutes after the interval, Williams should have teed up Graeme Shinnie in the box for Inverness, but opted to shoot and it was blocked by Fraser and the chance was gone. Central defender Warren then met a fine Tansey cross to almost make it 2-0 but Jamie Reckord got it away. Woods was on the line to save County falling further behind on 65 minutes when he denied Josh Meekings as the hosts continued to press. However, that changed in the 75th minute when Irvine's low delivery was knocked unfortunately into the net by Warren who was under pressure from Jake Jervis. Jervis should have turned the game in County's favour just after that, but crashed his 12-yard shot into the side-netting. Reguero then pulled off a superb save from Tansey's free-kick as Inverness sought a winner. Late on there were strong appeals for an ICT spot kick when Watkins was taken down in the box by Regeuro but referee John Beaton waved play on and the sides had to settle for a point apiece.