Ross County vs Partick Thistle Prediction: Will Ross County respond?

Ross County and Partick Thistle will play the second leg of their Scottish Premiership promotion match at Global Energy Stadium. Ross County won the opening leg of this tie by a score of 2-0. The home team, though, will try to reverse the current trend. Below, you'll find our comprehensive breakdown of the game.

Ross County may consider themselves fortunate to have placed anywhere other than last in the Scottish Premiership after finishing with only one point from their final three games. Still, it was not ideal to have given up three goals in three consecutive games leading up to a match of this magnitude, and that was evident in the first leg at Firhill Stadium. Ross County's situation was not helped by the removal of 16-year-old defender Dylan Smith after just 17 minutes, but the team was already down at that point. The home team took an early lead thanks to a spectacular shot by Aidan Fitzpatrick and a well-taken volley by Brian Graham just before halftime, but they were unable to add to their advantage after the interval.

Kris Doolan will be overjoyed to have taken command of the match, albeit with some understandable disappointment at not being able to extend their lead. After sweeping Queen's Park and Ayr United in the first two rounds of the playoffs, Partick will face Ross County in the finals. Thistle will be confident that they can finish the job on the road because they have won their last 11 matches without losing a single one and have scored 18 goals during that stretch. Malky Mackay will tell you that the last time Ross County won was on May 6 and 13, when they beat Livingston and Dundee United, respectively. However, Mackay will be aware that it will take an exceptional effort to keep this tie interesting moving into the final stages at Firhill after suffering three losses in four games and conceding nine goals since then.

Ross County possible starting lineup:

Laidlaw; Randall, Baldwin, Watson; Edwards, Tillson, Loturi, Purrington; Dhanda, White, Samuel

Partick Thistle possible starting lineup:

Mitchell; McMillan, Muirhead, Brownlie, Holt; Turner, Docherty; Lawless, Tiffoney, Fitzpatrick; Graham

Ross County has to do well to turn things around, so I'm looking forward to a challenging second leg contest here. I anticipate a goal from the visitors, Partick Thistle, who appear to be in fine form.