| Date | Tuesday, 23 August 2005 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Cup |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 1:2 Ayr United |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 2,842 |
| Referee | Mike Ritchie |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Ross County 1 Ayr United 2 Ross County boss John Robertson suffered his first defeat with the Dingwall side after energetic Ayr punished defensive errors to win 2-1 in the CIS League Cup at Victoria Park. All the goal came in the first half, with ex-Kilmarnock man Jerome Veraille the ultimate match-winning hero. Robert Connor's Second Division side stunned County after only six minutes. Chris Roberts' up-and-under into the box wasn't dealt with by the Dingwall defence and Stuart Boyd was able to side foot home from six yards. The Honest Men immediately drew back to leave only one man up front, and County were at first slow to find any real penetration. But a lucky break after 20 minutes put the First Division side right back in the game. Fergus Tiernan aimed a diagonal ball into the box and it bounced off the shins of startled Martyn Campbell to beat his own keeper. Two minutes later, Alex Burke's dropping shot from just outside the area was turned over the bar superbly by Mark McGeown. Just as County were starting to press, an act of extreme clumsiness by Fergus Tiernan allowed Ayr to restore the lead on 30 minutes. The former Don's fluffed clearance attempt rolled backwards into his own box for Jerome Veraille to stab past a helpless Stuart Garden. A Burke pass into the box from wide left was teed up by David Winters, but Rankin blazed his shot over the bar. County were piling forward, but their attacking efforts were becoming increasingly desperate. After 63 minutes, Sean Higgins swept a powerful shot across goal and fellow sub Steven McGarry only just failed to connect as he slid in at the far post. But the charge forward was leaving gaps at the back and, as an Ayr corner broke to the edge of the box, Douglas Ramsay rattled the County crossbar with Garden beaten. County's Higgins came painfully close to the leveller with a diving header from a David Cowan cross, and took a head blow for his efforts. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | John Robertson |
| Starting 11 | 1: Stuart Garden, 2: Lionel Djebi-Zadi, 3: Martin Canning, 4: David Cowan, 5: Sean Webb, 6: John Rankin, 7: Mark McCulloch, 8: Fergus Tiernan, 9: David Winters, 10: Maciej Nuckowski, 11: Alexander Burke |
| Bench | 0: Joseph Malin, 0: David Niven, 0: Kevin McKinlay, 0: Steven McGarry 1, 0: Sean Higgins |
| Ayr United | |
| Manager | Mark Shanks |
| Starting 11 | Mark McGeown, Barry McLaughlin, Martin Campbell 1, Chris Robertson, James McKinstry, Jerome Vareille 1, Dougie Ramsay, Paul Weaver, Raymond Logan, Stuart Boyd 1, Andy Essler 1 |
| Bench | Eric Phillips, Mark Casey, Ian Cashmore, Chris Strain, Andrew Reid |