Jim McIntyre hails battling Staggies after Saints draw

Ross County manager Jim McIntyre hailed the spirit of his Scottish League Cup winners after they fought back to claim a point against St Johnstone three days after their Hampden triumph.

County did not want their Ladbrokes Premiership game at McDiarmid Park to go ahead so soon after their first major trophy win but they put everything into the game to ensure they remain tied on an identical record with Saints in the top six.

In a 1-1 draw, Brian Graham levelled from the spot in the 65th minute after David Wotherspoon had fired Saints ahead inside 11 minutes.

McIntyre, who felt a point was a fair result, said: The emotion of Sunday, the high of winning the cup and then having the game this week, it was always going to take a spirited effort and I think you saw that.

I never saw any hangover. My players put in unbelievable effort. It was always going to be required with the type of game we had at the weekend.

They were fantastic, I saw players sprinting by each other to help each other out. The endeavour and character was there. A wee bit of quality was lacking at times in terms of the end product.''

It was a mixed night for St Johnstone defender Steven Anderson.

The centre-back equalled goalkeeper Alan Main's club appearance record of 361 games but gave away the penalty when he brought down Liam Boyce.

St Johnstone assistant boss Callum Davidson said: 'Ando' is an honest boy. It's a great achievement for him.

He won't be thinking it's good tonight but once he looks back on his career he will be very proud, and so he should be.''

Davidson added: In the first half we were really good, the tempo, energy, commitment and shape was good.

In the second half before they scored we got into a lot of good areas but our quality wasn't quite there.

We gave them an opportunity, by giving away the penalty, to stay in the game and give them something to hang on to.''

Davidson was deputising for the ill Tommy Wright. He said: He put me in charge but he was on the phone most of the time anyway so it wasn't really as if I was in charge.''