| Date | Saturday, 18 April 1998 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 3 |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 1:0 Arbroath |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 1,843 |
| Referee | Alan Gemmill |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Scott McBride for the Press & Journal. Ross County 1 Arbroath 0 Arbroath were prematurely cocky before Alex Taylor breathed life back into Ross County's promotion bid. Midfielder Taylor struck the winning goal five minutes from the end to salvage County's season and said: "It looked as if we were never going to score and I thought it was maybe going to be one of those days. "Arbroath were getting smug about it and a few comments were made, which was a wee bit annoying, so it was good to get the goal." Third Division leaders Alloa and second-placed Arbroath, two points clear of County with a game in hand, remain favourites for the two promotion slots. "We still need snookers and must win all our games and hope Arbroath slip up," conceded Taylor. "We'll have our work cut out to overhaul them but have given ourselves a half chance." The biggest Third Division crowd of the season (1,843) was at Victoria Park on Saturday and saw a nervy but highly competitive match, during which two from each side were booked. County's Billy Herd and Steve Ferguson, and Arbroath's Craig Wight and Brian Grant were the men who were yellow-carded. Meanwhile, X-rays have shown that County defender Willie Furphy, carried off in injury time in the first half and replaced by Mark Haro, has sustained ankle ligament damage and not a fracture. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Neale Cooper |
| Starting 11 | 1: Joseph (Nicky) Walker, 2: David Matheson, 3: William Furphy, 4: William (Billy) Herd 1, 5: David MacKay, 6: Alexander Taylor 1, 7: Roy McBain, 8: Kenneth Gilbert 1, 9: Steven Ferguson 1, 10: Derek Adams, 11: Neil Tarrant |
| Bench | 0: Mark Haro, 0: Franck Escalon, 0: Connor Campbell |
| Arbroath | |
| Manager | Dave Baikie |
| Starting 11 | Craig Wight, Jon Crawford, John McAulay 1, Brian Mitchell, Steve Florence, Dougie Scott, John Gallagher, Craig Cooper, Kevin Tindal, Billy Spence, Brian Grant 1 |
| Bench | Scott Peters, Neil Thomson, Mark McWalter |