| Date | Saturday, 18 October 1997 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 3 |
| Fixture/Score | Dumbarton 2:2 Ross County |
| Venue | Boghead Park |
| Attendance | 452 |
| Referee | Kevin Bisset |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Paul Hughes for the Daily Record. Dumbarton 2 Ross County 2 Dumbarton boss Ian Wallace reckoned he made a first class move when he posted Hugh Ward into action when all looked lost against the league leaders. The Sons plunged 2-0 down after 56 minutes but then postman Ward came on as a sub--and Dumbarton roared back at County. He sparked the fightback with a great solo effort on 70 minutes and just 60 seconds later bagged a share of the points with a cross-cum-shot that beat County's debut keeper, Nicky Walker. Wallace said: "When we found ourselves 2-0 down we knew we had to change our system so we went from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 to try to get another man forward. Luckily enough it worked out for us. Hugh did extremely well to get us back into it. "For the first 20 minutes we were sharper but over the last 25 minutes of the half they took command. "I felt we were dead and buried when they got the second and feared we could lose three or four but the lads showed great spirit and confidence to get back into the game and I thought we could have pinched it at the end." County stayed top of the table despite dropping two points. they took the lead after 29 minutes when Stuart Golabek nodded a Derek Adams cross high into the net. But they almost blew their lead when former Rangers and Hearts keeper Walker completely missed a high ball and Gerry Farrell scrambled the ball off the line. Adams grabbed No.2 when he beat the offside trap and coolly slotted the ball past Ken Meechan. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Neale Cooper |
| Starting 11 | 1: Joseph (Nicky) Walker, 2: Mark Haro, 3: Stuart Golabek 1, 4: William (Billy) Herd, 5: David MacKay, 6: Kenneth Gilbert, 7: Gerard Farrell 1, 8: Steven Ferguson, 9: Thomas Callaghan, 10: Derek Adams 1, 11: Garry Wood |
| Bench | 0: Alexander Taylor, 0: Richard Hart, 0: Connor Campbell |
| Dumbarton | |
| Manager | Ian Wallace |
| Starting 11 | Kenny Meechan, Jamie Bruce, David Reid, Craig Brittain, William Wilson, Alex Grace, Colin McKinnon, Chris Ewing, Martin Mooney 1, Tom Currie 1, James Meechan |
| Bench | Martin Glancy, Hugh Ward 2, Marc Falconer |