Date	Saturday, 15 February 1997
Competition	Scottish League Division 3
Fixture/Score	Ross County 3:1 Alloa Athletic
Venue	Victoria Park
Attendance	1,546
Referee	Garry Mitchell
Comments	Match Report Report by Michael Grant for the Press & Journal. Ross County 3 Alloa Athletic 1 Ross county manager Neale Cooper has accepted arch-rivals Caley Thistle are out of sight in the Division 3 title race. Two goals from ex-Don Derek Adams kept County in the promotion hunt and derailed Alloa's challenge but Cooper frankly admitted his team must now concentrate on finishing second. "I think we have to forget about Caley Thistle because the rest of us seem to be battling for second spot," said Cooper. "Beating Alloa was very important because they have games in hand. But we showed a lot of character because Alloa maybe came up here thinking they could give us a seeing to. "There was a lot of pressure on us after the derby defeat and it was a great battling performance." Despite losing that midweek derby County have taken nine of their last 12 points to keep the pressure on Montrose and, especially, Forfar. Steven Ferguson and Kenny Gilbert were excellent in midfield and, although there was not always a lot between the teams, County took their chances and kept the shackles on Alloa. Man-of-the-match Willie Furphy, who earned a booking and needed treatment after a second-half clash of heads with Stuart Wilson, said: "We had to pick ourselves up after losing to Caley Thistle but the lads responded. If we had won the derby it might have been different but I think Caley are home and dry now. "It will be really tight for the other promotion spot and I think it will go right to the wire. It is a pity only two teams can go up because there are so many sides who are a credit to the league." County's goals all came at crucial times. Roy McBain opened the scoring in three minutes after good set-up play by Adams. Both teams had further chances but Adams killed the contest by rising to head a Billy Ferries free kick past the keeper four minutes after half-time. Adams scored again, his 12th of the season, with a simple header after a clever lob back into the area by Ferguson after the keeper had punched clear in 55 minutes. Alloa felt that was offside but by then the damage was done. Adams had another couple of chances and really should have had a hat-trick before substitute Jim Piggott pulled one back for Alloa with a powerful shot 12 minutes from the end. Alloa boss Tom Hendrie said: "This result is a big blow for us but most of the damage was self inflicted. We play Caley Thistle on Tuesday and now that is a cup final for us."
Ross County
Manager	Neale Cooper
Starting 11	1: Stephen Hutchison, 2: William Furphy 1, 3: Johnston Bellshaw, 4: Steven Ferguson, 5: Julian Broddle, 6: Roy McBain 1, 7: Kenneth Gilbert, 8: Gerard Farrell, 9: Derek Adams 2, 10: Keith (Billy) Ferries, 11: Alexander (Sandy) Ross
Bench	0: Paul Bradshaw, 0: Robert (Robbie) Williamson, 0: Gordon Connelly
Alloa Athletic
Manager	Tommy Hendrie
Starting 11	Michael Monaghan, Craig Valentine, John McCormack, Paul McAneny, Keith McCulloch, Mark Wilson, Stuart Wilson 1, Michael McAnenay, Kevin Kane, William Irvine, David Pew
Bench	Mark Nelson, James Gilmour, J Piggott 1