Date	Saturday, 19 September 1998
Competition	Scottish League Division 3
Fixture/Score	Ross County 0:1 Stenhousemuir
Venue	Victoria Park
Attendance	2,105
Referee	Alan Freeland
Comments	Match Report Report by Alasdair Fraser for the Daily Record. Ross County 0 Stenhousemuir 1 Raging Ross County boss Neale Cooper has vowed to axe several of his fallen heroes. He's ready to splash out for new players after witnessing what he called one of the worst ever performances in the Dingwall club. Saturday's home defeat by Stenhousemuir is County's second nightmare display since their brave penalty shootout defeat by Hearts in the League Cup two weeks ago. This result, coupled with Brechin's 4-1 win over Albion Rovers, saw the Angus men close the gap at the top of the table. More than 2000 people turned up at Victoria Park and Cooper said: "You can see why the crowd was unhappy. The players looked as if they had just met each other on the bus before the game. "Some of them are living on the Hearts game and they had better get their fingers out. "It is all very well reading in the papers about clubs watching players, but if any scouts were here today there would have been a few names getting scored off the list. "It is all very nice being a player who is pretty on the ball but we also need a bit of grit in the team to do well in this league." While County were poor throughout the side--with the exception of tough-tracking Kenny Gilbert and keeper Nicky Walker--absence of attacking presence is the real worry for Cooper. He admitted that County struggled without striker Derek Adams, who moved to Motherwell last week. Cooper said: "I never thought I would miss Derek as much as I did today--especially his movement off the ball. "Some players here have been given chances by myself and the board as I would rather do that before making any decision. "But I can tell you that this week I will definitely be going out to sign two players. "I brought in Ivo den Bieman from Dunfermline, but I was also talking to other players. "After today's performance that becomes all the more urgent." Stenhousemuir boss Terry Christie is a slightly pessimistic chap--he even brought his trusty duffel coat north in the team bus despite all weather forecasts pointing to sunshine and blue skies in the Highlands. But Christie may venture a more optimistic glance at the league programme ahead after a valuable win took his side to within two points of the leaders. However Christie is not about to be fooled by Ross County sudden lapse in form. He said: "I still fancy them to win the title and it is a battle between the likes of ourselves, Dumbarton and Brechin, among others, for that second spot. "In terms of facilities, Ross are light years ahead of other clubs in this league and we, relatively speaking, are a very wee club indeed. "We have to rely on experienced former pros who still love the game while County are a full-time outfit. "There were also 2000 fans here today, and how many matches elsewhere in Scotland had that sort of turnout--very few I suspect. "I saw County against Hearts and there is a lot of talent in the team. Obviously, losing a player of the talent of Adams is going to have an effect." Christie admitted that the performance of former Rangers Keeper Lindsay Hamilton had a major bearing on the eventual outcome. He said: "I think we played well last week and were also worthy of our win today. "But Lindsay is working wonders and made a brilliant save in turning Neil Tarrant's volley over the bar just a couple of minutes after we scored. "That is five games now without losing a goal and Graham Davidson, who has played only five games for us, doesn't know what it is like to lose in a Stennie shirt." In a dire first half, County struggled to find a pattern to their play as their usual passing game deserted them. But Tarrant tried his best to fill Adams' shoes and could have scored with a glancing header from Alex Taylor's cross in 40 minutes. Stenny's breakthrough came in 58 minutes when James Fisher dragged the ball back from the by-line and floated a cross over to the far post where Tommy Graham found himself unmarked and prodded the ball past Walker from eight yards. Hamilton tipped Tarrant's volley over the bar as County tried desperately to find a way back. But it was too little too late for a County side unrecognisable from that which clocked up eight straight wins at the start of the season.
Ross County
Manager	Neale Cooper
Starting 11	1: Joseph (Nicky) Walker, 2: Stuart Golabek, 3: Ian Maxwell, 4: William (Billy) Herd, 5: Alexander Taylor, 6: Franck Escalon, 7: Roy McBain, 8: Steven Ferguson, 9: Kenneth Gilbert, 10: Richard Hart, 11: Neil Tarrant
Bench	0: William Furphy, 0: Connor Campbell, 0: Garry Wood 1
Stenhousemuir
Manager	Graeme Armstrong
Starting 11	Lindsay Hamilton, Graeme Davidson, Alan Banks, Graeme Armstrong 1, Crawford Baptie, Tom Graham 1, Ross Hamilton, Jimmy Fisher 1, Alan Lawrence, Albert Craig, Adrian Sprott
Bench	Alan Lansdowne, Willie Watters, Michael Hall