| Date | Saturday, 22 September 2001 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 3:2 Partick Thistle |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 3,312 |
| Referee | Craig MacKay |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Ross County 3 Partick Thistle 2 Ross County came back from the dead at Victoria Park on Saturday to hand high-flying Patrick Thistle their first league defeat of the season. The Dingwall side was two goals down inside four minutes and there looked to be no way back for Neale Cooper's shell shocked troops at that stage. But a double from 21-year-old Steve Hislop after Alex Bone had pulled one back saw County take all three points. Delighted County boss Neale Cooper said: "We were fantastic after that nightmare of a start. "Our performances over the past couple of weeks have been getting better and better. "In the past we've found it difficult to come back after losing an early goal but we killed that off today and it was especially pleasing to do it against a strong team like Partick Thistle. "Credit to all the players for coming back the way we did. It sets us up nicely for Tuesday night's cup tie against Hearts and I think we will cause them problems." Partick got off to a flier when long-throw specialist Stephen Craigan found Derek Fleming unmarked at the far post and he beat Tony Bullock with a header. Three minutes later Fleming took a corner on the right and into the net by the in-form Gerry Britton. County were back in the game in 20th minute thanks to an opportunist strike from Bone and, seven minutes later, the home side was back on terms when Hislop rattled in a 30-yard equaliser. And Hislop nodded County in front four minutes into the second half, meeting Richard Hasting's cross with a perfect header. From there, County held out comfortably for their third league win of the season, leaving Partick boss John Lambie distinctly unhappy. He said: "I'm very angry at the performances from quite a few of my players. "That's three points lost and we've got to bounce back against Caley Thistle in the CIS League Cup at Inverness on Wednesday. "After that we've got Airdrie in the league, so it's going to be a really tough week for us." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Neale Cooper |
| Starting 11 | 1: Anthony (Tony) Bullock, 2: Richard Hastings, 3: Sean Webb, 4: Mark Perry, 5: Ian Maxwell 1, 6: Hugh Robertson, 7: Brian Irvine, 8: Steven Ferguson, 9: Steven Hislop 2, 10: Alexander Bone 1, 11: John McQuade |
| Bench | 0: A Trialist, 0: Bryan Dlugonski, 0: Steven MacKay, 0: Don (JNR) Cowie, 0: Karim Boukraa |
| Partick Thistle | |
| Manager | John Lambie |
| Starting 11 | David Klein, Scott Paterson, Stephen Craigan, Denis Connaghan, James McKinstry, Alan Archibald, Jamie Dolan, Danny Lennon, Derek Fleming 1, Scott McLean, Gerry Britton 1 |
| Bench | Gary Gow, Martin Hardie, Richard Huxford, Barry Elliot, Paul Walker |