Date	Saturday, 19 January 2002
Competition	Scottish League Division 1
Fixture/Score	Ross County 0:1 Partick Thistle
Venue	Victoria Park
Attendance	3,043
Referee	Alan Gemmill
Comments	Match Report Report by Paul Third for the Press & Journal. Ross County 0 Partick Thistle 1 Ross County pushed title-chasing Partick Thistle all the way, but had to suffer defeat at home as Cedric Anselin and keeper Tony Bullock joined the casualty list. The two key players are now struggling to be fit to face Airdrie this weekend. Martin Hardie's goal on the half-hour mark proved to be the difference between the teams in a game which was reduced to a battle due to the heavy pitch at Victoria Park. County may have lost, but manager Neale Cooper is encouraged. He said: "I think we were the better side, especially in the second half where we really pushed them back. It was difficult to go in and speak to the players after the performance as they gave everything. "After the first 10 minutes, we stopped playing up the wing--which is where we were hurting them. But in the second half I thought we picked the game up and we did everything but score. "We worked very hard and I don't think the fans could fault the boys for effort. The only negative was that we couldn't find a way through the Partick defence, although there is no denying they are a quality side." Having faced the top team in the First Division, County face second-placed Airdrie this Saturday and Cooper is looking for the same application. He said: "Airdrie are going great guns just now and it will be tough. We have played well in the last two games now and we need to maintain that appetite and commitment every week if we are to move up the table. "The 16 guys I had are pretty much the whole first-team squad now. Our biggest problem will be keeping the players fit. Cedric Anselin took a bad knock and keeper Tony Bullock looks like he will be out too as he has pulled his hamstring. We are probably two players down already for next week for what will be another hard game." County started the game well with Alex Bone seeing a shot cleared off the line by Stephen Craigan after a fine run and cross from Hugh Robertson but it was Partick who opened the scoring in 30 minutes. Danny Lennon's header was parried by County keeper Bullock and Hardie got the final touch after a goalmouth scramble to prod the ball over the line from a yard. Conor Gethins came closest to equalising for County in the second half but his angled header from Brian Irvine's cross was tipped past the post by Jags keeper Kenny Arthur. Arthur almost gifted County an equaliser when his mis-kick fell to Bone, but his shot was deflected wide by Alan Archibald, who did well to save his keeper from an embarrassing error.
Ross County
Manager	Neale Cooper
Starting 11	1: Anthony (Tony) Bullock, 2: Mark Perry, 3: Hugh Robertson, 4: Ian Maxwell, 5: Brian Irvine, 6: Don (JNR) Cowie, 7: David Lilley, 8: Steven Ferguson, 9: Conor Gethins, 10: Alexander Bone, 11: Steven Hislop
Bench	0: Ramiro Gonzalez, 0: Sean Webb, 0: Cedric Anselin, 0: Martin Prest, 0: Karim Boukraa
Partick Thistle
Manager	John Lambie
Starting 11	Kenny Arthur, Scott Paterson, Stephen Craigan, Paul Deas, Mark McCulloch, Alan Archibald, Danny Lennon 1, Derek Fleming, Martin Hardie 1, Leon Constantine, Scott McLean
Bench	Gary Gow, James McKinstry, Jamie Dolan, Gerry Britton, Paul Walker