Ross County 1-1 Partick Thistle

Ross County and Partick Thistle slipped below St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership after drawing in Dingwall.

Kallum Higginbotham fired a free-kick under the defensive wall and into the net to give Thistle the lead.

However, a set piece at the other end drew the sides level as County's Richie Brittain fired home.

In a tense second half, neither side was willing to commit many players forward and a winner never looked on the cards.

And, with St Mirren winning against Kilmarnock, Thistle and County now occupy the tenth and eleventh places, respectively, in the table.

The game started briskly with a couple of chances at both ends but the deadlock was broken by Partick Thistle.

Prolific striker Lyle Taylor was impeded by County's Scott Boyd on the edge of the box and the defending picked up a yellow card.

Higginbotham fired the resulting free-kick hard and low into the right hand corner beyond the reach of Mark Brown.

But the Jags only held on to their lead for a matter minutes.

Slovak midfielder Filip Kiss was brought down by Lee Mair just outside the penalty box and County captain Richie Brittain curled the free-kick perfectly round the wall and just inside the right-hand post.

Prince Bauben had a good chance to restore Thistle's lead but he hit Chris Erskine's cross over the bar.

It was County who then had opportunities to go ahead later in the first half. Yoann Arquin failed to keep a header on target while Kiss managed to cut through the Jags defence a couple of times without delivering the end product.

County manager Derek Adams brought Melvin de Leeuw on for Jordan Slew for the second half in an attempt to make a breakthrough but it was Partick Thistle who looked livelier just after the break.

Erskine came close after a pass from Higginbottam, sending his shot just wide.

At the ther end, De Leeuw's shot was well saved by Paul Gallacher.

The energy began to sap out of the game towards the end with neither side willing to risk a defeat and the consequences that would bring at the bottom end of the table.