Date	Tuesday, 24 September 2002
Competition	Scottish League Cup
Fixture/Score	Ross County 3:0 Hamilton Academical
Venue	Victoria Park
Attendance	902
Referee	Ian Fyfe
Comments	Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Ross County 3 Hamilton Academical 0 Ross County reached the third round of the CIS League Cup at Victoria Park last night, but they were made to fight all the way in a 3-0 victory over a lively Hamilton Accies side. County keeper Tony Bullock was forced to pull off a couple of first-class saves early in the second half as County held on to a 1-0 lead and it was the introduction of Don Cowie that killed off the visitors when he netted County's second in the 73rd minute. Marc McCulloch had given the Dingwall side the lead with a spectacular strike midway through the first half, and following Cowie's goal, Accies full back Alisdair Graham deflected a McCulloch effort into his own net four minutes from the end. County boss Neale Cooper said: "They made it difficult for us at times--big Ally Graham and Brian McPhee with his pace were causing us problems, but once we got the second goal we knew we were safe." Accies manager Chris Hillcoat said: "I thought we matched them football-wise apart from our defending. We can't keep losing goals like that. "We went out and played some great football tonight but then we went on to lose stupid goals. But I can't fault the players for their effort." Steve Ferguson and Conor Gethins retained their places for County after making an impact in the second half against St Johnstone on Saturday. Accies were without player-coach Hillcoat, although Mahdi Elfallah, Sean Sweeney and Jim Sherry returned. Accies won a free kick in the second minute, but Stewart Callaghan's high ball into the box was headed clear by Brian Irvine. Callaghan supplied another good ball into the area six minutes later but Sweeney just failed to connect in front of goal. County won their first corner of the tie in the 10th minutes but there were no takers for Irvine's back header at the far post. The home side almost took the lead in the 15th minute when Robertson made a good run down the left but Graham Bayne just failed to get a touch to his cross from two yards out. The pressure paid off in the 26th minute, when McCulloch curled the ball into the corner of the net from fully 25 yards for his first goal in County colours. The former Caley Thistle captain should have doubled his tally a minute later but he blasted the ball wide of target after Kenny Gilbert had set up the chance. McCulloch was on target again in the 35th minute but Potter tipped his shot over the crossbar. Accies came close to an equaliser in the 65th minute when Sherry's goal bound free kick was deflected past for a corner. Bullock came to County's rescue in the 70th minute when he made a spectacular one-handed save from McPhee, but County made the tie safe when Cowie, who had just replaced Ferguson, broke free on the right to send a low shot past Potter. County added a third in 86 minutes when McCulloch's cross was bundled into his own net by Graham, and Bayne almost grabbed a fourth on the final whistle, but Potter saved.
Ross County
Manager	Neale Cooper
Starting 11	1: Anthony (Tony) Bullock, 2: Martin Canning, 3: Hugh Robertson, 4: Mark Perry 1, 5: Brian Irvine, 6: Mark McCulloch 1, 7: Kenneth Gilbert, 8: Steven Ferguson, 9: Conor Gethins, 10: Alexander Bone, 11: Graham Bayne
Bench	0: Leslie Fridge, 0: Don (JNR) Cowie 1, 0: Steven McGarry, 0: Martin Wood, 0: Craig Campbell
Hamilton Academical
Manager	Chris Hillcoat
Starting 11	Graham Potter, Sean Sweeney 1, Ian Dobbins, Alisdair Graham 1, Martin Bonnar, Stuart Callaghan 1, Jim Sherry 1, Brian McPhee, Ally Graham, Craig Smillie, Mahdi Elfallah
Bench	Raymond Jellema, Paul McDonald, Gareth Armstrong, Iain McCreadie, John Walker