St Johnstone 1 Ross County 0: Emotional Graham Carey lifts Saints off bottom – as club rally round wife in cancer battle

HE has endured a torrid time off the park supporting his wife in yet another cancer fight.
But for a few magic moments on it yesterday, Graham Carey was able to bask in the glory of being the man who fired St Johnstone off the bottom of the Premiership.
The Irishman’s thoughts no doubt quickly moved back to the troubles his family face.
Football, after all, is entirely trivial compared to real life.
But for Carey, who scored his first goal in over 12 months to hand Craig Levein his first win and send Saints up to tenth, time on the pitch has provided much-needed release.
And a different form of relief was the overwhelming feeling around McDiarmid at the conclusion here, as this win lifted them above County and gave real hope of a revival ahead.
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They looked a forlorn bunch just ten days ago, but seven points from nine - and finally some goals - have sparked their season at last.
Although losing Nicky Clark to a calf injury, just four games into his comeback, was a bitter blow.
After playing Dan Phillips on the right against Motherwell, Levein opted to recall James Brown after his mistakes in the 4-0 loss to St Mirren in Steven MacLean’s last game.
That meant the Trinidad midfielder could slot back into the centre of the park, with Austrian anchor Sven Sprangler the one missing out.
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County, who didn’t name a full complement of subs, were without their James Brown following his red card against Celtic, meaning Will Nightingale returned to the starting line-up.
The Staggies had an early penalty shout when Jack Baldwin’s long throw hit off Phillips and then off Matt Smith’s hand.
They appealed to ref Nick Walsh but he was perfectly placed to judge the Saints midfielder couldn’t have done anything to get out of the way.
Saints first real chance came on the quarter-hour as nice play from Matt Smith to break wide on the right saw them switch sides through Nicky Clark, Phillips and out to Carey.
He slipped a pass even wider for wing-back Luke Robinson to whip in, but his cross was blocked allowing the Irishman the chance to put it in himself.
His ball to the back post teased Ross Laidlaw off his line, but Brown wasn’t able to connect and cause damage.
Carey was next to see an opening for Saints, having been played in by Phillips, but he dragged his left-foot shot from the edge of the area wide.
Ref Walsh had his book out for the first time just before the break, cautioning both Robinson and Victor Loturi after a bizarre incident between the pair left the Canadian on the floor.
They tussled slightly while lining up for an Andy Considine throw, then the Saints man flipped him right up in the air and over his shoulder in a move straight from judo…or the WWE wrestling.
VAR presumably took a look at it and backed up the whistler’s decision to just award a yellow.
Walsh was in the thick of the action again minutes later when McGowan went down heavily inside the box after blocking a Scott Allardice shot.
The ball broke well for County and they were free wide on the right, but the game was stopped - much to Mackay’s annoyance.
The Aussie was fine to continue after some treatment, allowing Saints to restart back in their shape.
Wing-back Brown got high up the pitch for the first time for the last action of the first half but his cross flew over Clark’s head before Carey hit the first defender with the second ball.
County made a change at the break, replacing Loturi - who didn’t appear injured after his bodyslam by Robinson - with Kyle Turner.
Saints came out with far more purpose after the break, creating two quickfire chances they thought they’d scored from.
First Clark beat Laidlaw with a superb hooked effort from Smith’s cross into the area, but it cannoned back off the bar.
From the second ball, Kane was able to feed it back to Carey but Laidlaw somehow got a foot outstretched enough to send his low drive past.
But from that corner, County had their best chance so far on the break getting Yan Dhanda into the area three on two, but he blazed his shot over.
Disaster struck for Saints just after the hour when Clark, back from nine months out with three goals in two games, pulled up injured in the middle of the pitch with nobody near him.
He was taken off after treatment, with Stevie May thrown on in his place.
And the sub played a massive role in Saints’ opener, which came on 71 minutes as they cut County wide open.
Carey was in the middle of the build up, sweeping Smith’s pass inside out for Robinson wide on the left and after his cross was held up by May and then cut back, the chance to score emerged.
The Irishman was left in space 22 yards out and with Laidlaw exposed, flighted a magnificent curling effort past his right hand into the top corner.
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County threw on Alex Samuels to beef up their attack even more and launched an aerial bombardment of the home side in the closing stages.
But just days after losing a two-goal lead to Motherwell, they held out to secure their second win in eleven days.
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