| Date | Saturday, 24 March 2001 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 2:3 Alloa Athletic |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 2,079 |
| Referee | Tom Brown |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Scott Macnab for the Press & Journal. Ross County 2 Alloa Athletic 3 Ross County boss Neale Cooper was concerned to see Edinburgh referee Tom Brown in charge of the match. Brown was harshly criticised at Falkirk the previous weekend for taking no action against County's Ian Maxwell, who looked to have hauled down Falkirk's Steven Craig when Craig was breaking clear. But Brown was not slow to react on Saturday as he sent off Maxwell for allegedly kicking the prostrate Gareth Evans. Cooper stopped short of claiming that Brown was out to even up scores. But he said: "The referee got a bit of stick in the papers. But we deliberately went out of our way not to say anything about him. The criticism didn't come from us. Maybe there was a bit of pressure after last week and it's strange to get the same referee two weeks in a row." County were ahead twice, but could not hold out against the extra man in the closing stages and lost their unbeaten run. Cooper added: "I told the lads before the game to be tighter than they've ever been at the back, but we gave away three goals. I can't be too critical overall, though, because I know in the last two matches they've given me everything." The hosts took the lead in the 15th minute when Darren Henderson's shot deflected off John McQuillan and looped over Guido Van de Kamp for the opener. A Gareth Evans diving header levelled the scores five minutes from the break and Maxwell was red-carded in 52 minutes. Alex Bone gave the hosts the advantage again with a stunning looping left-foot effort over the stranded Van de Kamp in the 61st minute. Willie Irvine levelled again for the Wasps three minutes later. Eleven minutes from the end Gareth Evens swung a ball in from the right and a ball in from the right and an untidy scramble was ended when Alloa veteran Hamish French, on loan from Dunfermline, hooked a left-foot effort home. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Neale Cooper |
| Starting 11 | 1: Joseph (Nicky) Walker, 2: Mark Perry, 3: Ian Maxwell 1, 4: Hugh Robertson, 5: Brian Irvine 1, 6: Darren Henderson 1, 7: Franck Escalon, 8: John Fraser, 9: Karim Boukraa 1, 10: Alexander Bone 1, 11: Mark McCormick |
| Bench | 0: Garry Hamilton, 0: Edward Cunnington, 0: Craig Taggart, 0: Derek Holmes, 0: John McQuade |
| Alloa Athletic | |
| Manager | Terry Christie |
| Starting 11 | Guido van de Kamp, John McQuillan, Stevie Thompson, Frank Conway, Gregg Watson, William Irvine 1, Hamish French 1, Max Christie, Derek Clark, Ross Hamilton, Gareth Evans 1 |
| Bench | James McQueen, Graeme Armstrong, Grant Johnson, Ian Little, Chris Wood |