Date	Saturday, 30 August 1997
Competition	Scottish League Division 3
Fixture/Score	Ross County 5:3 Albion Rovers
Venue	Victoria Park
Attendance	1,295
Referee	Gary Mitchell
Comments	Match Report Report by Alasdair Fraser for the Daily Record. Ross County 5 Albion Rovers 3 Neale Cooper reckons a year's hard slog in reserves has made a man of County kid Paul Bradshaw. Twelve months ago, at only 16, the big Ross County striker was being trailed by a host of big clubs, including Manchester United, Blackburn and Coventry. But illness and a bust-up with Cooper wrecked his chances of a dream move and he was banished to the Highland equivalent of the salt mines--the low calibre North Caledonian League. On Saturday, however, Cooper ended Bradshaw's exile and hurled him into the starting line-up--and the youngster didn't disappoint. Cooper admitted: "I had a few problems with Paul when I first came here and we felt it was necessary to his development for him to spend a spell in the reserves. "But he has since responded very well and worked extremely hard. He has also conducted himself properly and behaved himself off the pitch. "I was delighted today with his contribution and with his fitness, particularly given that he has been playing at a far lower standard." The 1200 fans at Victoria Park were treated to a goal feast with cruel observers suggesting Both sides had taken lessons from Celtic's European defence manual. The Dingwall men surged ahead on the half hour through Derek Adams' spot-kick after Garry Wood had been brought down. And three minutes later Wood made it two. Adams hit his second in 51 minutes before Lee Gardiner pulled one back from the spot 31 minutes later. Sub Sandy Ross grabbed County's fourth in 81 minutes. Then in a remarkable climax subs John Dickson and Douglas Bruce raised Albion's hopes with a goal apiece only for Adams to seal County's victory with his third in the fourth minute of injury time. The one black spot for the Highlanders was a broken leg for Robbie Williamson.
Ross County
Manager	Neale Cooper
Starting 11	1: Kevin Morgan, 2: Paul Bradshaw, 3: Stuart Golabek, 4: William Furphy, 5: Mark Haro 1, 6: Kenneth Gilbert 1, 7: Steven Ferguson, 8: Gerard Farrell, 9: Alexander Taylor, 10: Garry Wood 2, 11: Derek Adams 2 (1 pen)
Bench	0: Robert (Robbie) Williamson, 0: Roy McBain, 0: Alexander (Sandy) Ross 1
Albion Rovers
Manager	Vinnie Moore
Starting 11	Ronnie Coyle, Lee Gardner 1 (1 pen), Neil McKilligan, Paul Martin, Ian Harty, Willie Watters, Colin Mitchell, Stephen Cody 1, Ian McInnes, Vincent Moore, Chris Sinclair
Bench	John Dickson 1, Douglas Bruce 1, David Campbell