Date	Saturday, 19 July 1997
Competition	FRIENDLY
Fixture/Score	Ross County 1:1 Aberdeen
Venue	Victoria Park
Attendance	2,126
Referee	Kevin Bisset
Comments	Match Report Report by Derek McGregor for the Daily Record. Ross County 1 Aberdeen 1 So much has changed for Aberdeen this summer--yet so much remains the same. Roy Aitken has brought in four new faces and promised a new, improved style next season. But for the hundreds of Dons fans who went to sun-baked Victoria Park, the record hadn't changed at all. A goalkeeper howler, shoddy defending and an anonymous midfield that left the strikers cursing brought back all the horror memories of last season. In the end, Jim Leighton's 88th minute error robbed the Dons of an unfair win against Neale Cooper's promising side. And new Aberdeen skipper Leighton admitted: "We didn't play as well as we can do. "I'm annoyed at dropping the ball for their goal, but even if we'd won 5-0 it would've been irrelevant. "These games are giving us the chance to get to know each other and get the fitness right. "We've got another four games to go before the real stuff begins." The 38-year-old wonder, who has seen and done it all, confessed he had an attack of Nerves before his first game as a second-time Don. He said: "The reception I got from the supporters certainly helped. "There are a lot of people who don't remember when I first played for Aberdeen, so I was trying to win over a new generation. "But I would've been disappointed if I hadn't been nervous." Leighton was full of praise for County, who also forced him to make two world-class saves and rattled his crossbar. Scotland's No.1 said: "You've got to give Ross County credit for the way they played. "They deserve to make the Second Division for the facilities and players they've got." Leighton's moment to forget arrived when he dropped a Roy McBain corner, leaving Willie Furphy to tap home. Bulgar Tzanko Tzvetanov had put the Dona Ahead with a deflected 25-yard shot six minutes after half time. Third Division favourites County--who also had a 40th minute Gary Wood header ruled out for offside--produced decent football. Player-boss and ex-Don Neale Cooper beamed: "I had eleven heroes out there. I was proud of the boys against a team like Aberdeen." Roy Aitken also paraded Brian O'Neil and Eoin Jess, while absentee Gary Smith is expected to face Hull City at Boothferry Park tonight. Striker Mike Newell is another possible, with Aitken confident of securing a £160,000 deal with Birmingham City. Dons fans--who saw Darren Young's brother Derek, 17, make his debut--also viewed a slimline Dean Windass. Deano, ready to face his old Hull team-mates, revealed: "I've lost half a stone over the summer. I've dieted and stopped drinking."
Ross County
Manager	Neale Cooper
Starting 11	1: Kevin Morgan, 2: David MacKay, 3: Stuart Golabek, 4: Kenneth Gilbert, 5: Mark Haro, 6: William Furphy 1, 7: Keith (Billy) Ferries, 8: Jamie MacPherson, 9: Garry Wood, 10: Alexander Taylor, 11: Roy McBain
Bench	0: Robert (Robbie) Williamson, 0: Steven Ferguson, 0: Derek Adams, 0: Andrew (Andy) MacLeod, 0: Richard Hart
Aberdeen
Manager	Roy Aitken
Starting 11	Leighton, Anderson, Tzvetanov, Berrnard, Kombourne, O'Neil, Miller, Jess, Shearer, Windass, Woodthorpe
Bench