| Date | Saturday, 22 November 2003 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 3:2 Raith Rovers |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 2,803 |
| Referee | Alan Freeland |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the Press & journal. Ross County 3 Raith Rovers 2 Fresh from a remarkable comeback in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Caley Thistle, County looked home and dry against Raith Rovers at Dingwall on Saturday. A David Winters double and a Conor Gethins header gave them a comfortable advantage, but goals from John Sutton and player-manager Antonio Calderon set up a grandstand finish. County manager Alex Smith said: "It was looking like the derby all over again, only this time with us on the receiving end. I thought it could end up a re-run but, thankfully, we held on to our lead. "We created a lot of chances and could have scored more goals, but Raith are a good football side and they could have scored a few more. To be honest, I wasn't sure we were worthy of our 3-0 lead, but they were all good goals." Hugh Robertson produced a typical long-range effort which dipped over Raith Goalkeeper Ramiro Gonzalez's crossbar. And it was County who took the lead a couple of minutes from the interval when a long through ball found Winters in space and the former Dundee United player delicately floated the ball over Gonzalez and into the net from the tightest of angles. County went further ahead four minutes into the second half when a Gethins cross was headed back across goal by John Rankin and Winters was in the right place to stick the ball home from five yards. The home side was buzzing and Gethins turned scorer in the 59th minute when he stooped to head home a Rankin cross. It looked all over, but within a minute Sutton threw Raith a lifeline when he got on the end of a Ryan Blackadder free kick. Then Calderon put the frighteners on County when he stabbed the ball home from 10 yards with Blackadder again the provider. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Alexander (Alex) Smith |
| Starting 11 | 1: Colin Stewart, 2: Stuart Malcolm, 3: Sean Webb, 4: Hugh Robertson, 5: Stephen O'Donnell, 6: Mark McCulloch, 7: John Rankin, 8: Jamie McCunnie, 9: Graham Bayne, 10: David Winters 2, 11: Conor Gethins 1 |
| Bench | 0: Leslie Fridge, 0: Don (JNR) Cowie, 0: Steven MacKay, 0: James Hamilton, 0: Sean Higgins |
| Raith Rovers | |
| Manager | Antonio Calderon |
| Starting 11 | Ramiro Gonzalez, Goran Stanic, Paquito Ortiz, Darren Brady, Ryan Blackadder, Antonio Calderon 1, Steven Robb, Craig Stanley, John Sutton 1, Mathias Jack, Christian Patino |
| Bench | Jamie Sweeney, Ian Brown, Vincent Talio, Richard Brittain, Karl Hawley |