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Ross County relegated from Scottish Premiership, Partick Thistle to face Livingston in play-off

Ross County’s Jason Naismith is consoled by St Johnstone’s Richard Foster
Image: Ross County’s Jason Naismith is consoled by St Johnstone’s Richard Foster

Ross County's six-year stay in the Ladbrokes Premiership is over after a 1-1 draw at St Johnstone.

County needed to better Partick Thistle's result at Dundee if they were to avoid finishing bottom of the table.

But Partick won 1-0 at Dundee, veteran striker Kris Doolan scoring his 114th goal for the Jags to secure 11th place and a Premiership play-off final against Livingston.

Ross took an early lead at St Johnstone when Craig Curran arrived at the back post to bundle home Jason Naismith's deflected cross after three minutes.

That goal put County on course to stay up but the picture changed when news of Doolan's 63rd-minute goal which made it 1-0 to Partick had filtered through.

And a disappointing season for Ross did not even end with a win, St Johnstone's David Wotherspoon scoring a fine equaliser from the edge of the box in the second minute of stoppage time.

Kris Doolan was the hero for Partick Thistle
Image: Kris Doolan was the hero for Partick Thistle

It was a nervous afternoon for Partick at Dens Park and Miles Storey almost put the visitors ahead in a tight first half.

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But substitute Doolan, who had only been on the pitch seven minutes, eased nerves when he became the first Jags player to score 10 competitive goals in eight consecutive seasons.

And it was a nice finish from Doolan, who calmly pushed the ball past onrushing goalkeeper Calum Ferrie after getting on the end of a Stevie Lawless pass.

Elsewhere, Nadir Ciftci scored twice as Motherwell beat Hamilton 3-0 in the Lanarkshire derby at Fir Park.

Motherwell made eight changes ahead of next weekend's Scottish Cup final against Celtic, but still ran out comfortable winners to secure seventh spot.

On-loan Turkish striker Ciftci opened the scoring after 31 minutes, after Ryan Fulton pushed out Ross McClean's effort.

Ciftci (70) then struck from close range, before defender Tom Aldred (73) added a third.

Hamilton finished level on points with Partick but avoided the play-off due to their superior goal difference.

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