St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson felt his side should have been awarded a penalty in their 1-1 draw at Ross County.

The Buddies had to come from behind after an Alex Gogic mistake allowed Jordan White to slot past goalkeeper Zach Hemming early on, but Robinson felt a possible handball from Ross County’s Ryan Leak should have been checked by VAR.

Toyosi Olusanya salvaged a point late on for St Mirren, but Robinson said: “There was a blatant handball and I believe it wasn’t checked.

“That happened before the foul, so I don’t understand why that would be.

“I can’t control that, but it seems quite obvious from what we’ve seen and what we’ve been told.

“We were not at the top of our game, there were three or four players who were below what they have been recently, but we showed great character to get back into it and get a point – and it could have been three with the chance at the end.

“We didn’t start well. We made a mistake, which is so uncharacteristic of Alex, but he showed great mentality to play the way he did after.

“Ross County scored with their only shot on goal, which came from our mistake. But we didn’t play as well as we can.

“The subs gave us a real impetus when they came on. A point away from home is a point gained. If we can take seven points from this week it would be fantastic for us.”

Ross County interim manager Don Cowie looked at the result as two points dropped after they had enjoyed the lead for so long in the match.

“It was two points dropped, especially when you’re leading with five minutes to go,” Cowie said.

“It wasn’t the greatest game or the best performance from us but when you’re leading at that stage you have to get the points.

“I thought we defended very well until the goal.

“St Mirren are a very good team with a lot of players who can hurt you but I thought we kept them pretty quiet so it’s frustrating.

“The message before the game was to build on Saturday and we’ve done that by adding a point. It’s a step in the right direction, taking four from six, and we want to add to that against Hibs now.”

Toyosi Olusanya’s last-gasp strike for St Mirren denied Ross County three points that would have moved them out of the relegation play-off place in the cinch Premiership.

Jordan White had given the hosts a first-half lead in Dingwall, making the most of an Alex Gogic mistake to put the Staggies ahead in the 12th minute.

St Mirren fought valiantly for an equaliser but they had to be patient, with Olusanya’s goal eventually coming in the 90th minute.

There was just one change between the two starting XIs – Eli King coming into Ross County’s line-up in place of Teddy Jenks.

The visitors had not settled when a mistake at the back gifted Ross County the opening goal in the 12th minute.

Gogic attempted to pass the ball back to his goalkeeper, only for White to nip in ahead of Zach Hemming and round the Buddies goalkeeper before rolling the ball into an empty net for his sixth goal of the season in all competitions.

County had to be on their guard to prevent a quick St Mirren response, with keeper George Wickens diving to his right to keep out Caolan Boyd-Munce’s deflected strike.

It was a similar story at the start of the second half, with Lewis Jamieson this time cutting inside from the right flank and forcing an acrobatic stop from Wickens.

St Mirren continued to put the pressure on their hosts and as the clock ticked down, Stephen Robinson threw on some fresh legs to give the visitors fresh impetus going forward.

It worked as Keanu Baccus’ header sent Olusanya goal-side of Loick Ayina to finish into the bottom corner in the last minute.

Ross County remain 11th, while St Mirren move to within a point of fourth-placed Kilmarnock.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers praised his players’ mentality after they followed up their derby triumph with a dominant 3-0 win over St Mirren.

The cinch Premiership leaders maintained the eight-point advantage they opened up with Saturday’s victory over Rangers, thanks to a flying start which saw Daizen Maeda net inside 60 seconds and Matt O’Riley slot home his 10th goal of the season six minutes in.

St Mirren had Toyosi Olusanya sent off in first-half stoppage-time and had goalkeeper Zach Hemming to thank for keeping the score down after Greg Taylor volleyed home on the hour mark.

Rodgers said: “It can always be a tricky game mentally and physically after a Rangers game but I thought we dealt with it really well and we made the start we wanted to. It was good tempo, good speed, so that set us up well in the game.

“These games are so important and I think as we work together more the players understand more the mentality that is required and the demands and you can now see the standard of performance we have put in place. And then the results will come.

“The second half the only downside was we never took the chances we created but we were much better 11 v 10 than we were at the weekend.

“We spoke about that after Rangers. You have to really dominate possession and counter press and we did that really well in the second half.”

Celtic have won all four of their games over the festive period after losing consecutive league matches for the first time in a decade.

“I think you can see that it is getting better and improving,” Rodgers said.

“Those results against Kilmarnock and Hearts, it was about learning from those. I think you can see the difference in the team and how they are working.

“And sometimes you need that. To have success you need to have that bit of adversity. How the players have responded to that has been fantastic.

“Their mentality, their attitude, the speed, the tempo of the games is what we want as well with much more creativity. The second part of the season I am excited about.”

Olusanya was sent off after catching Joe Hart in the face with his studs with a high boot following a VAR review but the game already looked beyond St Mirren.

Manager Stephen Robinson said: “It was a long evening. You can’t start like that and win football matches. Effectively the game was dead after six minutes.

“The more you come out the more they can open you up, so the game plan goes out the window.

“Frustrating, because we spoke about getting done on our inside shoulders with Maeda’s runs, and for the third goal we also got done for dropping our runner.

“As well as Celtic showed a lot of quality, of course, we didn’t control that situation well enough.

“Then it’s compounded by the red card which makes it damage limitation whichever way you dress it up.”

A late strike by substitute Oh Hyeon-gyu gave Celtic a hard-fought 2-1 cinch Premiership win over St Mirren at Parkhead.

Saints attacker Conor McMenamin headed the well-organised visitors into a shock lead in the seventh minute but the Hoops responded as expected.

Returning midfielder David Turnbull levelled in the 18th minute with a terrific strike before hitting the post with a penalty just before the half-hour mark.

Brendan Rodgers’ men kept working away in the second half and eventually got their reward in the 83rd minute when South Korean attacker Oh, on for Turnbull, fired high past excellent Buddies goalkeeper Zach Hemming for his first goal of the season.

Rodgers’ side had dropped points at the weekend with a goalless draw at Hibernian but the main talking point ahead of the game was the Green Brigade’s ban from Celtic Park for “increasingly serious escalation in unacceptable behaviours”.

The move came after incidents including the fan group’s co-ordination of a display showing solidarity with the people of Palestine at last week’s Champions League game against Atletico Madrid and their absence impacted on the atmosphere.

Rodgers, however, had to get on with winning a game of football and with centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers rested he brought in Nat Phillips, with Turnbull and winger James Forrest reinstated as Paulo Bernardo and Daizen Maeda dropped to the bench.

The visitors, with Ryan Strain back from suspension and Caolan Boyd-Munce and Toyosi Olusanya back in the side, stunned the home side with the early opener.

Greg Kiltie’s curling cross from wide on the left was met by Northern Ireland attacker McMenamin and he gave keeper Joe Hart no chance with his header from close range.

The goal concentrated Celtic minds while the fans began grumbling at St Mirren taking the lead.

But they had cause to cheer when Turnbull picked up a Matt O’Riley pass 20 yards from goal and curled a shot high past Buddies keeper Hemming.

There was a handball check by VAR when Turnbull’s shot came off the sliding Buddies midfielder Alex Gogic and when referee John Beaton checked his pitchside monitor he inevitably pointed to the spot.

Turnbull’s spot-kick struck the post, Luis Palma’s effort from the rebound was well-saved by Hemming and then Matt O’Riley headed past the post and Saints breathed again.

Celtic increased the pressure just before the break with Hemming preventing Gogic inadvertently slicing a clearance into his own net before making a good save from Palma’s low drive.

An intricate move early in the second half ended with Hemming making a fine save from Forrest’s drive from 10 yards before the winger and Palma made way for Maeda and South Korean attacker Yang Hyun-jun.

Celtic kept knocking at the door and seven minutes from the end Oh took a pass from fellow substitute Odin Thiago Holm inside the box and drove high into the net.

The hosts should have scored again in added time when Kyogo Furuhashi was clean through, only to be foiled by Hemming.