| Date | Saturday, 17 September 2005 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 1:0 Brechin City |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 2,124 |
| Referee | Eddie Smith |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Ross County 1 Brechin City 0 Alex Burke was the match winner for league leaders Ross County in what proved to be a difficult encounter with a battling Brechin City side at Victoria Park. County manager John Robertson was delighted with the result, but admitted his players were less than impressed with their performance: "We played well in the first half and we could have taken more of our chances. Brechin caused us problems in the second half and I thought we became a bit nervous. We started playing square ball and making silly mistakes. "I'm happy with the win, but it should have been more clear-cut. The players are a bit unhappy with their performance in the last half hour and although we are still top of the league and managed to keep a clean sheet, they believe there is still room for improvement." County started brightly and Madjiec Nuclowski should have scored in the first minute, but he failed to connect with a Don Cowie cross. The home side kept the pressure on and Sean Webb was denied when he came up for a corner as his header was brilliantly saved by Craig Nelson. At the other end, Stuart Garden dealt with a low, hard drive from Ally Mitchell, but the County goalkeeper was a virtual spectator for most of the half. The goal arrived in the 21st minute when Steve McGarry released Burke and the former Queen of the South forward rounded Nelson to stroke the ball into the empty net. Brechin changed their shape at the start of the second half and began to carve out a few openings of their own. Scott Walker headed over from a corner kick and former Caley Thistle forward Paul Richie was thwarted by a blocking tackle from Martin Canning as he shot for goal. Richie came close to grabbing an equaliser, but his angled drive flew inches past the far post. Disappointed Brechin manager Ian Campbell said: "I couldn't believe our lack of luck in the second half. Things just didn't fall for us." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | John Robertson |
| Starting 11 | 1: Stuart Garden, 2: Lionel Djebi-Zadi, 3: Sean Webb, 4: Martin Canning, 5: Mark McCulloch, 6: John Rankin, 7: Don (JNR) Cowie, 8: Fergus Tiernan, 9: Steven McGarry, 10: Alexander Burke 1, 11: Maciej Nuckowski |
| Bench | 0: Ian McCaldon, 0: James Lauchlan, 0: Gary McSwegan, 0: David Winters, 0: Sean Higgins |
| Brechin City | |
| Manager | Ian Campbell |
| Starting 11 | Craig Nelson, Craig McEwan, Paul Deas, Ally Mitchell, David White, Scott Walker, Charlie King, Kevin Byers, Paul Ritchie, Steve Hampshire, Craig Winter |
| Bench | Steven Hamilton, John Hillcoat, Alex Burns, Darren Smith, Stuart Callaghan |