| Date | Saturday, 06 February 1999 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 3 |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 2:2 Stenhousemuir |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 1,837 |
| Referee | Colin Hardie |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Alasdair Fraser for the Daily Record. Ross County 2 Stenhousemuir 2 Ian Maxwell apologised to his Ross County team-mates after a costly blunder blew the chance to open a 17-point gap on promotion rivals Stennie. The classy former Queen's Park centre half may have been watched by scout from Celtic and Kilmarnock in midweek, but his late error set up John Gibson's equaliser. Maxwell turned from hero to villain after opening the scoring with a superb header after only six minutes. For County it was an opportunity missed, given second-placed Brechin's slip-up and Maxwell admitted: "I've apologised to the rest of the lads for that error. "I held onto the ball when I should have done the simple thing and cleared it. "Thankfully, Brechin lost, so we have actually extended our lead in the table, while a draw was not what Stenhousemuir needed." It was Ross County's first home game since Boxing Day and a snowstorm blew in as if to resurrect the festive feel to the afternoon. In fact, County officials revealed after-wards that the game within minutes of being abandoned before the blizzard blew over. The snow was driving in County's face but it was Stenhousemuir's defence which seemed temporarily blinded in the sixth minute when Maxwell opened the scoring. The big man pounced with a reverse head flick from Roy McBain's corner which beat keeper Lindsay Hamilton. Then, in 20 minutes, the County defence were caught completely static with former Hearts favourite Alan Lawrence running onto a cross from the left before firing high past Nicky Walker. John McGlashan replaced Franck Escalon after the break and the former Dundee midfielder flicked the ball home for county in 68 minutes. County had chance to kill off their opponents, but in 82 miniutes John Gibson volleyed home an equaliser. County boss Neale Cooper said: "I was pleased enough with our second half performance. McGlashan was inspirational after coming on at half-time. "In the first half, the players got it in their heads that the game was going to be called off as the match officials had decided to give it only a few minutes longer. Slackness crept in as a result." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Neale Cooper |
| Starting 11 | 1: Joseph (Nicky) Walker, 2: Stuart Golabek, 3: Ian Maxwell 1, 4: Mark Haro, 5: David MacKay, 6: Franck Escalon, 7: Kenneth Gilbert, 8: Steven Ferguson, 9: Roy McBain, 10: Keith (Billy) Ferries, 11: Neil Tarrant |
| Bench | 0: John McGlashan 1, 0: Garry Wood, 0: David Ross |
| Stenhousemuir | |
| Manager | Graeme Armstrong |
| Starting 11 | Lindsay Hamilton, Michael Hall, Alan Banks, Graeme Armstrong, Crawford Baptie, Ross Hamilton, Alan Lawrence 1, Jimmy Fisher, Willie Watters, Albert Craig, Kenny Miller |
| Bench | John Gibson 1, Adrian Sprott, Alan Lansdowne |