Ross County Database

DateSaturday, 01 November 2003
CompetitionScottish League Division 1
Fixture/ScoreBrechin City 4:2 Ross County
VenueGlebe Park
Attendance565
RefereeCalum Murray
CommentsMatch Report
Report from the Press & Journal.
Brechin City 4 Ross County 2
Ross County manager Alex Smith admitted his players will have to sharpen up defensively if the Dingwall men want to maintain their First Division title challenge.
County lost to bottom side Brechin City at Glebe Park, with two of the Angus men's goals coming from corners.
And while Smith acknowledged that Brechin deserved their first win of the season, he was disappointed that his normally-reliable defence was caught out at set pieces.
Smith said: "My side can't afford to concede goals like that from set pieces--it was criminal. We are normally very organised in defence, but we were slack and got punished.
"We didn't work as hard as we should have. We are pushing to stay near the top of the league, but we won't do that if we lose to the team at the bottom.
"Brechin fought back from the blow of losing an early goal. They then lost another just before half-time, but when we failed to take the initiative, they kept battling away.
"We started really well, but in some ways scoring in the first minute worked against us. It relaxed the Brechin lads and took the pressure off them."
County made the best possible start with a goal in 40 seconds as Graham Bayne scored from the corner of the box with the aid of a deflection. But the home side levelled in 39 minutes when central defender David Whyte scored with a headed from a Charlie King corner.
But back came County and the Dingwall men regained the lead a minute from the break when Bayne volleyed home a Jamie McCunnie cross.
The second half belonged to Brechin and Whyte headed home a Chris Templeman cross to restore parity. Jamie Smith then bulleted a header into the County net from another King corner to give City the lead, before Kevin McLeish wrapped up the points seven minutes from time with his first goal for the Angus club.
Brechin manager Dick Campbell, who had been left reeling by his First Division side's 5-0 mauling at Aberdeen in the CIS League Cup last week, said: "I'm delighted to get our first league win as our heads could have gone down. To come back twice against a top side like Ross County gives me great belief in my players.
"My players worked their socks off and I'm looking forward to tackling St Mirren this weekend."
Ross County
ManagerAlexander (Alex) Smith
Starting 111: Colin Stewart, 2: Stuart Malcolm, 3: Sean Webb, 4: Jordon Tait, 5: Hugh Robertson, 6: Jamie McCunnie, 7: John Rankin, 8: Mark McCulloch, 9: David Hannah, 10: Graham Bayne 2, 11: David Winters
Bench0: Leslie Fridge, 0: Don (JNR) Cowie, 0: Steven McGarry, 0: Conor Gethins, 0: Sean Higgins
Brechin City
ManagerDick Campbell
Starting 11Derek Soutar, Jamie Smith 1, David White 2, Paul Deas, Ally Mitchell, Neil Jablonski, Grant Johnson 1, Kevin McLeish 1, Charlie King, Chris Templeman 1, Steve Hampshire
BenchJay Stein, David Hay, Scott McCulloch, Greig Miller, Graham Gibson