| Date | Saturday, 03 November 2001 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Airdrieonians 1:1 Ross County |
| Venue | Excelsior Stadium |
| Attendance | 1,516 |
| Referee | John Rowbotham |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Duncan McKenzie for the Press & Journal. Airdrieonians 1 Ross County 1 Ross County defender Brian Irvine believes Saturday's 1-1 draw with First Division promotion pacesetters Airdrie at New Broomfield will do a lot for confidence in the Dingwall camp. Neale Cooper's men had previously lost five out of five league outings away from home. But Irvine last night insisted Saturday's share of the points could mark a turning point at Victoria Park. He said: "We've managed to improve our away form and that's what we wanted. "It was a great result against the league leaders but we knew if we could have won the game we would have gone third. We went to New Broomfield looking for all three points, but we have to be reasonably happy with a draw." "Now we have to keep it going and build on a positive display in this weekend's home game against St Mirren. We have Caley in the derby in Inverness the week after, so we have to keep improving." Airdrie keeper Allan Ferguson was called into the action for the first time after seven minutes to gather a Stevie Hislop trundler. And minutes later he had to look sharp to clear Sandy Stewart's poor pass back, as Hislop waited to pounce. The home side's best first-half chance came from a Stewart Taylor cross, which was intercepted by Sean Webb before it reached Owen Coyle. Just before the half-hour mark, County went in front with top scorer Stevie Hislop doing the damage, sending a delightful chip over Ferguson after he took on half the Airdrie rear guard. At the other end, County keeper Tony Bullock had a let-off when he appeared to handle outside the area but the referee appeared to miss it. But Airdrie came out in the second half looking more purposeful. And they got the equaliser their pressure merited in 59 minutes when Coyle poked home a Kevin James pass from two yards out. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Neale Cooper |
| Starting 11 | 1: Anthony (Tony) Bullock, 2: Sean Webb, 3: Mark Perry, 4: Richard Hastings, 5: Hugh Robertson, 6: Ian Maxwell, 7: Brian Irvine 1, 8: Don (JNR) Cowie, 9: Steven Ferguson, 10: Conor Gethins, 11: Steven Hislop 1 |
| Bench | 0: Ramiro Gonzalez, 0: Kevin McDonald, 0: Steven MacKay, 0: Neil Tarrant, 0: Alexander Bone |
| Airdrieonians | |
| Manager | Ian McCall |
| Starting 11 | Allan Ferguson, Sandy Stewart, John Henry, Kevin James, Stuart Taylor, Paul Armstrong, Craig McPherson 1, Neil MacFarlane, Allan McManus, Mark Roberts, Owen Coyle 1 |
| Bench | Neil Bennett, Lee Gardner, Anthony Smith, Colin McDonald, Robert Dunn |