| Date | Saturday, 26 November 2005 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Queen of the South 2:3 Ross County |
| Venue | Palmerston Park |
| Attendance | 1,276 |
| Referee | Ian Fyfe |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Queen of the South 2 Ross County 3 Two goals in three minutes helped earn Ross County a fifth straight victory that caretaker manager Garden Speirs claimed his side did not deserve. The Staggies looked to be heading for a shock defeat at the hands of struggling Queen of the South on Saturday when Derek Lyle volleyed home a stunning 30-yard strike early in the second half. But the Dingwall men showed a never-say-die attitude and that was rewarded in the dying minutes, with Gary McSwegan and John Rankin finding the net to the delight of their tiny band of 28 traveling fans. Now County will start preparing for this weekend's top-of-the-table clash at home against St Mirren, and Speirs known his men will have to play much better if they are to beat the League leaders. He said: "Our performance out there was very disappointing. We were outplayed and outfought for over 80 minutes before sneaking it at the end. "The St Mirren game will be a huge test for us." County took the lead after only six minutes when David Winters pounced on indecision by Chris Carr and keeper Colin Scott before rolling the ball into the net. But Ian McCall's part-timers equalised three minutes later as Eric Paton's inch-perfect cross fell for John O'Neill, who lashed a shot high past Stuart Garden. Queens then dominated and went ahead in 49th minute thanks to Lyle's sensational goal-of-the-season contender. But County's McSwegan came off the bench and seven minutes later pounced on some sloppy defending to drill the ball home from close range. And when the under-pressure Queens defence failed to close down quickly, Rankin took full advantage and rifled a long-range shot into the net. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Gardner Spiers |
| Starting 11 | 1: Stuart Garden, 2: Martin Canning, 3: Neil McDonald, 4: James Lauchlan, 5: Lionel Djebi-Zadi 1, 6: John Rankin 1, 7: Mark McCulloch, 8: Don (JNR) Cowie, 9: Fergus Tiernan, 10: David Winters 1, 11: Alexander Burke |
| Bench | 0: Joseph Malin, 0: David Cowan, 0: Kevin McKinlay, 0: Maciej Nuckowski, 0: Gary McSwegan 1 |
| Queen of the South | |
| Manager | Ian McCall |
| Starting 11 | Colin Scott, Eric Paton, Jim Thomson, Chris Carr, Paul Burns, Stuart Lovell, Jon O'Neil 1, Steve Bowey, Willie Gibson, Derek Lyle 1, Garry Wood |
| Bench | Richard Barnard, Tom English, Stephen Payne, Stuart Hill, David McNiven |