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• Malky Mackay thrilled to repay owner’s faith as Ross County stay in Premiership

  Malky Mackay was delighted to repay Ross County chairman Roy MacGregor’s faith by keeping the Staggies in the top flight following the craziest game of his managerial career.

  County were 3-0 down on aggregate with 20 minutes left of their cinch Premiership play-off final second leg against Partick Thistle but ended up sealing a sudden-death penalty shoot-out victory three hours after kick-off in Dingwall.

  Simon Murray netted 80 seconds after Yan Dhanda’s penalty to transform the complexion of the game and George Harmon put County 3-1 ahead on the day at the start of nine minutes of stoppage time.

  There was VAR drama throughout the 90 minutes and chances at either end in extra time before both sides missed penalties in the shoot-out and sudden death. Josh Sims eventually sealed a 5-4 penalties win after Ross Laidlaw had saved Ross Docherty’s spot-kick.

  Mackay said: “I actually had the Carling Cup final with Cardiff against Liverpool that went to penalties, and that was a mental game. But this was something else.

  “This, being a two-legged play-off and having the responsibility of keeping this club in the Premiership, means a hell of a lot.

  “Honestly, I never thought we wouldn’t win. Even at half-time I thought we could score three goals. If we got a goal, I thought they would take a step back and creak, and we would get the momentum, and that’s what happened.”

  Mackay added: “As a manager it’s a huge achievement, because we’re a tiny club in the Premiership.

  “I’ve read a lot of stuff, and there have been a lot of questions about how brilliant Partick Thistle have been, and they have done terrifically well. It’s quite clear that it would have been lovely for a Glasgow club to go into the Premiership and teams not to have to travel on the A9.

  “I get that, but this is a great place and a great club. When players come up they realise what a great place it is and how good the people are running it.”

  Mackay held talks with owner MacGregor after a 6-1 defeat by Hearts left County four points adrift at the bottom of the Premiership going into the split.

  “My commitment to Roy is as much as his commitment is to me,” he said.

  “He could quite easily have decided after the Hearts game that enough was enough, but we had a conversation about how I felt about the run in, and I told him I had the shoulders to carry it. I believed that this group of players could stay in the Premiership, and we’ve done well.”

  Thistle had won their previous five play-off games, netting 18 goals in the process, and bounced back from the late blow to produce the better football and the best chance of extra time, which Stuart Bannigan missed.

  Manager Kris Doolan said: “I’m devastated as you would imagine. I’m gutted for everyone to be honest because we put so much into the games.

  “Half the country was probably behind us, not just Partick Thistle fans. Football is cruel and I know it’s cruel but to go out on penalty-kicks is worse because you feel as if you were so close.”

  Three VAR reviews all went against Thistle. They had a penalty claim denied despite Nick Walsh being called to the monitor to view Nohan Kenneh felling Ross Docherty. Brian Graham was penalised after the ball hit his arm, and County captain Keith Watson had a red card rescinded after bringing down Thistle’s goalscorer, Scott Tiffoney.

  “The one on Docherty, I couldn’t understand why it wasn’t given,” Doolan said. “From where we were it was blatant penalty.

  “When he is brought over to the monitor you assume, it’s pretty blatant because it has been flagged up so I couldn’t understand why it wasn’t given.

  “I don’t want to make excuses just on VAR, I feel like you would always be picking on VAR when we lost control of the game at times, five to 10 minutes when they score really quickly. We could have done better.

  “Even in extra time we had a couple of chances which we could have scored and I was confident we would have taken one of them. It wasn’t to be, it just wasn’t our day.”

• Ross County retain Premiership status after beating Partick Thistle in thriller

  Ross County came from three goals down against Partick Thistle to retain their cinch Premiership status with a sudden-death penalty shoot-out victory following an epic play-off final.

  Aidan Fitzpatrick put Thistle three ahead on aggregate two minutes before half-time in the second leg in Dingwall and they were in control until the 71st minute when Yan Dhanda’s penalty and Simon Murray’s close-range finish turned the game on its head inside 80 seconds.

  County completed their comeback just after the 90-minute mark when George Harmon netted to send the game into extra time.

  There were chances and VAR controversy throughout and the penalty shoot-out was just as dramatic as the game before Josh Sims finally settled matters three hours after kick-off to seal a 5-4 shoot-out victory.

  Malky Mackay’s side extended their four-year stay in the top flight while Thistle, who went down through the play-offs in 2018 and have been to League One and back to the Championship since, will eventually find encouragement from their form under Kris Doolan once their shock subsides.

  It was only a second defeat in 19 games under their manager, who suffered the loss of his father during a play-off campaign which saw Thistle win five matches and score 19 goals.

  County made four changes, two of them enforced through suspension, as Ben Purrington came in for his first start since suffering a serious ankle injury in October. Doolan named the same team for a fifth game in a row.

  County’s only real first-half pressure came courtesy of Thistle goalkeeper David Mitchell failing to deal with two high balls, Purrington seeing a header cleared off the line after the second blunder.

  The home side survived a lengthy VAR review after Greg Aitken called referee Nick Walsh to his monitor after Ross Docherty went down under Nohan Kenneh’s challenge as he ran into the box. Walsh had a long look while County boss Mackay told him “it’s a dive”, and the referee decided against awarding the penalty despite definite contact.

  The visitors soon took the lead after Tiffoney reacted quickest to a loose ball and drove it across the box. Fitzpatrick took a touch as David Cancola dived in, and the Thistle wide man reversed a finish past Ross Laidlaw.

  The noisy visiting fans chanted “Thistle are back” and Alex Samuel missed an excellent chance to give the home support hope just after the break following a slip in the Jags defence. Mitchell made a good stop and a grounded Aaron Muirhead completed the clearance.

  Thistle looked comfortable and Connor Randall cleared off the line from Steven Lawless as they looked to put the game out of sight.

  But the complexion of the tie was transformed with 19 minutes of the 90 remaining when Aitken alerted Walsh to the ball hitting Graham’s arm in the Thistle box and Dhanda converted the resulting spot-kick.

  Thistle then conceded a throw-in from the restart and Samuel capitalised on some hesitation from Darren Brownlie and drove in a cross which substitute Murray converted.

  Jordan White and Brian Graham missed chances at either end before more VAR drama when County captain Keith Watson was shown a straight red card for hacking down Tiffoney from behind as the forward was about to thread a team-mate through. Walsh downgraded to a yellow after being called to the monitor.

  The fourth official signalled for nine minutes of stoppage time just as Dhanda crossed for substitute Harmon to volley in off the post to make it 3-3 on aggregate. A VAR check for offside prolonged the tension.

  There were further opportunities at either end and Murray missed a glorious chance with the last kick of normal time when he volleyed over from seven yards.

  Samuel headed against the bar but Thistle had the better of extra time and Stuart Bannigan blazed over the best chance after being set up by Graham inside the six-yard box.

  The shoot-out was just as tense.

  Kevin Holt and Jack Baldwin saw penalties saved for either team before Harmon’s pressure kick took it into sudden death. Bannigan hit the post before Watson blazed over, and Laidlaw saved from Docherty before Sims netted to spark a pitch invasion from the home fans.

• Villarreal 2-2 Atletico Madrid: Late Pascual leveller denies Simeone's 10 men second place

  Atletico Madrid missed the chance to leapfrog Real Madrid and finish second in LaLiga on the final day of the season, as Jorge Pascual scored Villarreal's last-gasp equaliser in a 2-2 draw.

  Antoine Griezmann laid on two goals for Angel Correa after Nicolas Jackson put Villarreal ahead early on, but Axel Witsel's red card saw Diego Simeone's side come under mounting pressure, which told when Pascual converted two minutes into stoppage time.

  That meant Atleti finished the season one point adrift of their city rivals in third, despite Los Blancos labouring to a 1-1 draw with Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.

  Pablo Barrios' error was punished as Villarreal went ahead after nine minutes, the teenager's miscued header teeing up Jackson for a powerful finish across goal. 

  Atleti levelled when Correa turned Griezmann's clever free-kick home nine minutes later, and the France international teed up Correa again with the latter rounding Filip Jorgensen to put the visitors 2-1 up after the break.

  With Atleti seemingly heading for second place, Witsel was dismissed for fouling Giovani Lo Celso as the last man, and Villarreal made their numerical advantage count in the season's dying moments, Pascual converting a rebound to condemn Simeone's side to third.