Date	Saturday, 15 March 1997
Competition	Scottish League Division 3
Fixture/Score	Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3:0 Ross County
Venue	Caledonian Stadium
Attendance	5,525
Referee	Andrew Waddell
Comments	Match Report Report by Alasdair Fraser for the Daily Record. Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3 Ross County 0 Richard Hastings and Sandy Ross were caught up in a storm for the second successive derby clash. Striker Ross was again the villain with a red card in the 27th minute for what appeared to be a two-footed lunge at Hastings. The incident held remarkable parallels to his early exit in the derby at Inverness in November--again for a challenge on the young Canadian international And the flare-up sparked a hail of abuse and 'cheat' claims from County fans clearly furious at what they saw as blatant play-acting by home hero Hastings. County officials refused to get drawn into the dispute but are privately seething at the decision by Edinburgh whistler Andrew Waddell which altered the course of the match. County had looked more likely to score but afterwards they rarely had a look-in during an ill-tempered match. County assistant boss Jim Kelly said: "Sandy Ross is adamant he took the ball, although I admit it was probably worth a free-kick. "I was even more disappointed with what went on after the ref had blown for the incident. "Sandy was suddenly surrounded by about 11 Caley Thistle shirts. "It's just not on when there is such a big crowd and tense atmosphere. "It happened right in front of the main stand and the Thistle dug-out and you wonder if reactions to the incident had any effect on the decision. You have to say, also, that Hastings was running freely for the rest of the match and showed no adverse reactions to Sandy's challenge." Thistle stung county with a goal a minute before half-time. But Kelly stressed that the opener owed nothing to his side being a man short. He said: "Iain Stewart shot from 15 yards after a good run by Hastings, but our keeper Steve Hutchison held up his hands afterwards and said he should have caught the ball." Thistle controlled the second half and in a two-minute burst, Stewart and Brian Thomson put the game beyond doubt in spectacular fashion. First Thomson found the top corner with a searing 20-yard drive in 74 minutes and then Stewart sealed victory with an inch-perfect lob from a similar distance. Thistle boss Steve Paterson, who backed Waddell's red card decision, claimed Stewart was the best penalty box finisher in Scotland. He said: "I think we can look forward to promotion now but despite our 15-point lead, it is too early to talk about the title."
Ross County
Manager	Neale Cooper
Starting 11	1: Stephen Hutchison, 2: Robert (Robbie) Williamson 1, 3: Johnston Bellshaw, 4: Julian Broddle, 5: Gerard Farrell, 6: Roy McBain, 7: Kenneth Gilbert 1, 8: Steven Ferguson, 9: Alexander (Sandy) Ross 1, 10: Derek Adams, 11: Keith (Billy) Ferries 1
Bench	0: Stuart Golabek, 0: William Furphy, 0: Gordon Connelly
Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Manager	Steve Paterson
Starting 11	Jim Calder, Mike Teasdale, Richard Hastings, Iain McArthur, Mike Noble, Paul Cherry 1, Barry Wilson, Iain Stewart 2, Scott MacLean 1, Charlie Christie, David Ross
Bench	Ross Tokley, Marco De Barros, Brian Thomson 1