One of Friday night’s Scottish Premiership matches sees two of the league’s lowest scorers go head-to-head as Ross County host bottom side Partick Thistle.
Ross County have done pretty well this season so far and find themselves up in 6th place and in the top half play-off places as it stands. The Stags have been on a half-decent run in recent weeks with no defeats in their last six matches, however, they have only claimed maximum points in two of those.
As pointed out in the introduction, goals have been the big problem for the side from Dingwall this campaign having scored just 19 goals in 18 games. Additionally, it is not like they are sharing the goals around particularly with 10 of them scored by the Scottish Premiership’s top scorer Liam Boyce. If the Northern Irishman gets injured then County could find themselves sliding rapidly down the table.
It is rather strange to see Jim McIntyre’s side so high up the league when you also consider that they are not that good defensively (at least on the face of it) having conceded 29 goals this season. Having said that, 12 of those goals came in three matches against Aberdeen, Celtic and Motherwell and other than those heavy defeats they have been pretty solid and have rarely conceded more than once in a match.
This undefeated run for Ross County has been born out of good home form with four of their six matches without loss coming at the Global Energy Stadium. Despite their being a lot of draws in that time, The Stags will feel they can come out on top on Friday evening.
Partick have been on a wretched run recently and have not won since the end of October, placing them bottom of the league. However, they are only one point off safety and a win against Ross County on Friday could see them jump as high as eighth.
They lost their last match against Celtic but did well to keep the scoreline down to 1-0 and so their goal difference has thankfully not taken a massive hit.
As previously mentioned, Partick’s main problem has been the forward line which has only managed to find the back of the net 19 times on 18 occasions. Luckily their defence has actually been okay with their record of 28 conceded rivaling some teams in the top half of the table whilst they only tend to concede one goal against the more average sides of the division. Their problems in the final third have certainly been the main concern this campaign.
Alan Archibald’s team have actually been better on their travels this season as opposed to their form at their home ground of Firhill Stadium having won two matches rather than just the single victory achieved at home. Having said that, their record on the road is still not great with four losses in nine games.
Overall, the signs are pointing towards a Ross County win here – a selection I will definitely be backing at an appealing 23/20. Additionally, I would look at a Score/Win Double of ‘Ross County to Win & Liam Boyce Score’ at 10/3. The Scottish Premiership’s top scorer is having a purple patch right now with four goals in five matches. Furthermore, six of his ten goals this season have come at home and it would be no surprise if he extended that record here.
Finally, with this likely to be a low-scoring match ‘Ross County to Win & Under 3.5 Goals’, at a very well-priced 15/8, is well worth being on. Ross County should have enough about them to get the victory here, but, given the poor scoring records of both these teams, they aren’t likely to be handing out an excessive thrashing, so i’m somewhat amazed that you can almost treble your money on this market.
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