THE twice-abandoned Queen of the South and Ross County First Division fixture was finally played to a finish last night, with the relegation threatened Dingwall side deservedly winning through Michael Gardyne's goal at the neutral venue of Stirling Albion's Doubletree Dunblane Stadium.Floodlight failure at the Doonhamers' home of Palmerston Park, back on February 11, and again last Tuesday night had seen the SFL move the game to Stirling's "halfway house", with 154 County followers out of a crowd of 266 making the eight-hour round trip to support their side.
The result will be seen as justice by the travelling fans after their club had protested at the match being replayed at all, as they were 2-0 ahead last week with little more than 20 minutes left when the game was called off.
With a vastly superior goal difference, their favourites need only a point from their remaining fixtures against Falkirk and fellow strugglers Cowdenbeath to be safe.
Jimmy Calderwood's men had an early scare when Colin McMenamin looked to be tripped in the box, but they were quickly on top. Scott Morrison picked out Andy Barrowman with a left-wing cross after seven minutes, but his header was directed too close to goalkeeper Roddy McKenzie.
The goalkeeper had to work harder to keep his goal intact in County's next two raids when, first, he dashed from goal after ten minutes to nick the ball from Gardyne's toes just as he looked set to net. Then, on 20 minutes, Barrowman was convinced he had opened the scoring when he rose to meet a Paul Di Giacomo cross and sent a powerful header goalward. McKenzie leapt to make an instinctive save, but the Dingwall number nine was adamant that the ball had crossed the line before Steven Black hacked clear.
The goal that County deserved came on 29 minutes when David Lilley failed to clear a cross and the ball fell to Gardyne 12 yards out and he sent home a fine shot via the underside of the bar.
The lead could have been greater had Barrowman not sliced over just before half time after Di Giacomo trickery on the edge of the box.
The second half continued with Queen of the South pushed back and Iain Vigurs fired just over in the opening exchanges before Gardyne came within inches of adding a second on 55 minutes.
Morrison played the striker in and he side-stepped his marker before crashing a right-foot shot off the inside of the post with the ball uncing to safety.
With 20 minutes to go, Gardyne was denied again when he diverted a Richard Brittain shot, but McKenzie was well positioned to safely gat
The result will be seen as justice by the travelling fans after their club had protested at the match being replayed at all, as they were 2-0 ahead last week with little more than 20 minutes left when the game was called off.
With a vastly superior goal difference, their favourites need only a point from their remaining fixtures against Falkirk and fellow strugglers Cowdenbeath to be safe.
Jimmy Calderwood's men had an early scare when Colin McMenamin looked to be tripped in the box, but they were quickly on top. Scott Morrison picked out Andy Barrowman with a left-wing cross after seven minutes, but his header was directed too close to goalkeeper Roddy McKenzie.
The goalkeeper had to work harder to keep his goal intact in County's next two raids when, first, he dashed from goal after ten minutes to nick the ball from Gardyne's toes just as he looked set to net. Then, on 20 minutes, Barrowman was convinced he had opened the scoring when he rose to meet a Paul Di Giacomo cross and sent a powerful header goalward. McKenzie leapt to make an instinctive save, but the Dingwall number nine was adamant that the ball had crossed the line before Steven Black hacked clear.
The goal that County deserved came on 29 minutes when David Lilley failed to clear a cross and the ball fell to Gardyne 12 yards out and he sent home a fine shot via the underside of the bar.
The lead could have been greater had Barrowman not sliced over just before half time after Di Giacomo trickery on the edge of the box.
The second half continued with Queen of the South pushed back and Iain Vigurs fired just over in the opening exchanges before Gardyne came within inches of adding a second on 55 minutes.
Morrison played the striker in and he side-stepped his marker before crashing a right-foot shot off the inside of the post with the ball uncing to safety.
With 20 minutes to go, Gardyne was denied again when he diverted a Richard Brittain shot, but McKenzie was well positioned to safely gat
Two minutes later, Barrowman shot over from three yards.
Morrison then fired a 35-yard free-kick high over as County looked to secure the winning margin their performance deserved, but they saw things out comfortably as Queen of the South failed to establish any pressure at the other end.
The season has fallen apart for Kenny Brannigan's side, with their Alba Challenge Cup defeat to the Dingwall men coming in the middle of a disappointing run in the league and it looks like the season cannot end quickly enough.
Morrison then fired a 35-yard free-kick high over as County looked to secure the winning margin their performance deserved, but they saw things out comfortably as Queen of the South failed to establish any pressure at the other end.
The season has fallen apart for Kenny Brannigan's side, with their Alba Challenge Cup defeat to the Dingwall men coming in the middle of a disappointing run in the league and it looks like the season cannot end quickly enough.
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