Date	Saturday, 09 February 2002
Competition	Scottish League Division 1
Fixture/Score	Ross County 4:2 Raith Rovers
Venue	Victoria Park
Attendance	2,592
Referee	Craig MacKay
Comments	Match Report Report by Duncan McKenzie for the Press & Journal. Ross County 4 Raith Rover 2 After becoming entrenched in the relegation quagmire, back-to-back wins for Ross County have hoisted Neale Cooper's side onto the first rung of the ladder towards First Division safety. The Dingwall side went into Saturday's game with Raith Rovers knowing that defeat would see their Kirkcaldy rivals leapfrog them into second bottom position, leaving County rooted to the foot of the table. Whether it was the fear of Cooper's post match wrath or the ignominy of being branded basement boys afterwards, something lit a fire underneath the County players at the weekend and they fought as through their lives depended on it. The Dingwall team's 4-1 win at Brockville the previous weekend seemed to have repaired the dents in their confidence. Brian Irvine, Alex Bone and Conor Gethins provided the necessary firepower for County and they were aided by Raith's Robbie Henderson, who put past his own keeper eight minutes after the break. Darren Henderson and Nacho Novo were on target for Rovers but it was not enough to save Jocky Scott's strugglers from falling to another league defeat. Cooper expressed a mix of joy and relief following his side's latest victory. He said: "I knew that if we could score the goals we would win games. There are a lot of teams still involved at the bottom, it's up to us to keep this from going and stay away from relegation. "It's obviously worrying when you miss chances, but I was pleased the players did not panic when Raith put some pressure on. It was a great relief when the fourth goal went in. "That was a big win for us. Our problem has been scoring but we have now scored eight in two games. We've started playing with three strikers and they were excellent against Raith." The visitors were barely given time to settle before County took the lead with just two minutes on the clock. Karim Boukraa sent in a corner and Irvine powered a header past Samuel Monin. Cooper's men seemed intent on showing their fans they would not be slipping meekly into the Second Division next season and should have extended their lead in 15 minutes. Steven Hislop's shot, from a Cedric Anselin pass, was parried by Monin but the ball ricocheted back off the striker towards goal only for Paul Browne to clear off the line. Marc Millar came back to haunt his former club after 38 minutes when he set up Raith's equaliser. His free kick from the left was knocked onto the post by Andy Smith and, before County keeper Ramiero Gonzalez could get to the ball, Darren Henderson tapped home at the back post. The home side regained the lead eight minutes after the interval when Anselin released Bone inside the area. His shot was parried by Monin but it took a cruel deflection off Robbie Henderson and rolled into the net. County's constant pressure paid off with a third goal on the hour. Kenny Gilbert rolled the ball inside the area for Bone to run on and rifle an unstoppable shot high past Monin. Jocky Scott's men would not take defeat lying down and they pulled one back in 65 minutes when Nacho Novo guided the ball past Gonzalez with the aid of the far post. Raith suffered a sucker punch in the final minute of the game when Bone raced down the left wing and his cross was knocked home by substitute Conor Gethins from 12 yards.
Ross County
Manager	Neale Cooper
Starting 11	1: Ramiro Gonzalez, 2: Ian Maxwell, 3: Mark Perry, 4: Hugh Robertson, 5: Brian Irvine 1, 6: Kenneth Gilbert, 7: Cedric Anselin, 8: Steven Ferguson 1, 9: Alexander Bone 1, 10: Steven Hislop, 11: Karim Boukraa
Bench	0: Andrew Shearer, 0: Don (JNR) Cowie, 0: Mark McCormick, 0: Martin Prest, 0: Conor Gethins 1
Raith Rovers
Manager	Jocky Scott
Starting 11	Samuel Monin, Robbie Henderson 1 1, Paul Browne, Greig McCulloch 1, Shaun Dennis, Marc Millar, Mark McGarty 1, Nacho Novo 1, Darren Henderson 1, Andy Smith, Alvero Quesana
Bench	Simon Miotto, Wilfred Nanou, Mark Jones, Ross Matheson, Jay Stein