| Date | Saturday, 24 November 2001 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 1:2 Falkirk |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 2,184 |
| Referee | Bobby Orr |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Paul Smith for the Press & Journal. Ross County 1 Falkirk 2 As a player, Neale Cooper was renowned as a leader. Now, as a manager, he is calling on his Victoria Park squad to dig deep and find the same spirit if they are to lift the club out of the First Division drop zone. Cooper believes its time for his experienced players to stand up and be counted after watching County slip to a league defeat which leaves them second bottom. County are just 48 hours away from a CIS League Cup quarter-final at home to Rangers and Cooper admits he needs to find a leader to replace the injured Steve Ferguson if he is to halt his side's disappointing run of form. Cooper said: "At half-time, harsh words had to be said. It was like a continuation from the defeat by Caley Jags in Inverness. "I'm just looking for players to play with a bit of passion and determination. The ability is there but if you don't have the fight to go along with it then you are in trouble and I thought that was sadly lacking in the first half. "The only people I couldn't fault for effort in the first half were Ian Maxwell, Alex Bone and Hugh Robertson. "A major miss for us in the last few weeks has been Steven Ferguson. There's no leadership at the moment and that's what annoyed me in the first half. "There's nobody on the park to get the team going, rather than me ranting and raving on the touchline. "I need somebody to motivate the team and we lack that when Ferguson isn't playing. There is experience in the team and those players have to start leading better. I want some of the older players to start looking at the younger boys and how they are performing. At times, the youngsters are taking the strain and its unfair on them." Cooper is refusing to let the imminent arrival of Rangers be used as an excuse. He said: "The majority of the team couldn't come knocking on my door if they want to play against Rangers. "Everyone is talking about the Rangers game and it must be at the back of the players' minds--but surely if you've got the chance to play in a game like that you would go out and do your utmost to perform in the weeks leading up to it." Despite the end result, County got off to a promising start as Steve Hislop forced Myles Hogarth into a save inside the first minute, while Mark McCormick came close with a curling free kick minutes later. The home side continued to create the best chances in the opening stages but Falkick took the lead after 30 minutes when Robertson brought down Craig Steven on the edge of the box directly in front of goal. With Kevin McAllister orchestrating proceedings, Ian Morris was used as a decoy to allow Jamie McQuilken to curl a perfect shot over the wall and past the despairing dive of Tony Bullock as the ball flew into the top left corner of the net. Alex Bone came close to equalising when he rattled a long range effort off the post with Hogarth beaten, but the ball bouncer to safety. After the interval, County pressed for a leveller but found Hogarth on top form. First he denied Bone with an acrobatic dive to tip the ball over the bar and then he got down low to turn a Hislop effort around the post when a goal looked certain. County eventually drew level after 70 minutes when Karim Boukraa, who had shown some neat touches playing in an unaccustomed midfield role, knocked home a Steve Mackay corner at the near post. With just five minutes left, 18-year-old Andy Rodgers, making his Falkirk debut from the bench, was in the right place at the right time to rifle the winning goal high into the net from just inside the County box after the home defence had failed to clear a Bairns free kick. County piled on the pressure in the closing minutes, with keeper Bullock venturing forward to play as a makeshift attacker. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Neale Cooper |
| Starting 11 | 1: Anthony (Tony) Bullock, 2: Mark Perry, 3: Ian Maxwell, 4: Richard Hastings, 5: Hugh Robertson, 6: Sean Webb, 7: Don (JNR) Cowie, 8: Alexander Bone 1, 9: Mark McCormick, 10: Steven Hislop, 11: Karim Boukraa 1 |
| Bench | 0: Stefan Gonet, 0: A Trialist, 0: Steven MacKay, 0: Neil Tarrant, 0: Conor Gethins |
| Falkirk | |
| Manager | Alex Totten |
| Starting 11 | Myles Hogarth, Kevin Christie, Lee Wilkie, Lee Mair 1, Andy Lawrie, Jamie McQuilken 1 1, Steven Rennie, Ian Morris, Kevin McAllister, Lee Miller, Steven Craig |
| Bench | Darren Hill, Garry McStay, Ricky Waddell, Chic Pearson, Andy Rodgers 1 1 |