| Date | Tuesday, 28 September 2004 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish Challenge Cup |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 5:2 Forfar Athletic |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 2,328 |
| Referee | Hugh Dallas |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Andrew Dickson for the Press & Journal. Ross County 5 Forfar Athletic 2 A superb David Winters treble was enough to send Ross County into their first major final as they beat battling Forfar 5-2 at Victoria Park. The 22-year-old was the difference in an entertaining Bell's Cup semi-final as he was involved in all five goals and now the Highlanders will face this weekend's league opponents Falkirk, probably at McDiarmid Park, for the trophy on November 7. It will be manager Alex Smith's first major final since his Aberdeen side beat Celtic 9-8 on penalties in the 1990 Scottish Cup. Despite the result, Forfar took the game to their hosts from the start and, after David McClune had fired over the bar, they went ahead after just eight minutes. Paul Tosh broke clear down the right and, following a look up to find strike partner Paul Shields in acres of space, he swept a lovely low cross into the former Celtic hitman's path. With just keeper Stuart Garden to beat, the 23-year-old slotted the ball home. County were struggling to find any rhythm and a mistake by Stuart Malcolm almost let Shields in again, but this time there was too much pace on the ball and it ran away from him. Charlie Adam was on target from 30 yards with a curling free kick, but his effort was never going to trouble Neal Ferrie in the Loon's goal. He atoned for that mistake, however, when he helped set up the equaliser for Winters on 18 minutes. The on-loan Rangers midfielder swung a corner in from the left and when Malcolm rose to head it goal wards, the former Dundee United striker reacted to hook the ball high into the net. Suddenly the momentum was with the Highlanders and they turned the game on its head midway through the half. Don Cowie shot just wide but, from the resulting goal kick, the hosts won back possession and when Alex Burke played the ball over the last man, Winters placed the ball past Ferrie from the edge of the box. The turnaround was so quick that you feared the worst for Second Division Athletic and County set about getting a third. Ray Stewart has instilled plenty of character in his Station Park players, though, and on the half hour they were level again. Once more it was Shields who netted, this time sending a rising angled drive magnificently beyond Garden from 20 yards. The pendulum appeared to be swinging back in Forfar's favour, but McClune ballooned another chance high over the upright with the goal at his mercy. At the other end Jamie McCunnie skipped past Eddie Forrest before crossing deep to the back post and although Steven McGarry connected with it, he was always stretching and could only send it into the side netting. Adam came even closer as half-time approached, with his 20-yard strike sneaking inches too high after a neat one-two with Winters. County's pressure paid off as they finally went back in front two minutes after the break, with Winters turning provider for Burke, who rounder Ferrie before slipping the ball into the net. Forfar refused to lie down and Dave King nearly equalised again when Jay Stein found him with a set-piece but he nodded over the crossbar. With 25 minutes remaining, however, Winters put the result beyond doubt when he stepped up to send a beautiful free kick round the Forfar wall and past Ferrie from 20 yards to complete an excellent hat-trick. The scoring was not finished, though, with Cowie adding a fifth, seven minutes from the end after he was set up by Winters and that put the seal on a comfortable win for Smith's side. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Alexander (Alex) Smith |
| Starting 11 | 1: Stuart Garden, 2: Stuart Malcolm, 3: James Lauchlan, 4: Jamie McCunnie, 5: Sean Kilgannon, 6: Don (JNR) Cowie 1, 7: Charles Adam, 8: Mark McCulloch, 9: Alexander Burke 1, 10: Steven McGarry, 11: David Winters 3 |
| Bench | 0: Colin Stewart, 0: John Robertson, 0: Steven MacKay, 0: Gary McSwegan, 0: Sean Higgins |
| Forfar Athletic | |
| Manager | Ray Stewart |
| Starting 11 | Neal Ferrie, Eddie Forrest, David McClune, David Lowing, David King, Alan Rattray, Paul Lunan, Mark Booth, Jay Stein, Paul Shields 2, Paul Tosh |
| Bench | Dougie Cameron, Neil Clark, David Dunn, Mathu King, Neil Bennett |