| Date | Saturday, 30 September 1995 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 3 |
| Fixture/Score | Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1:1 Ross County |
| Venue | Caledonian Stadium |
| Attendance | 3,625 |
| Referee | Alan Freeland |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Mike Tremlett for the Press & journal. Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1 Ross County 1 Caley Thistle and Ross County will both ask the Scottish League's help this week to prevent more North derbies being reduced to reruns of the Highland Clearances. Officials of both clubs believe more thought must be given to the appointment of officials for derby matches after a disappointing Third Division clash at Telford Street. After a first-half memorable for all the right reasons, Saturday's second half will be recalled by both seta of players and 4,000 fans for all the wrong ones--seven yellow and three red cards. What promised to be a cliff-hanging sequel to a riveting first half turned into a major anti-climax after referee Alan Freeland sent three players for early bathes in as many minutes. County lost Jamie Macpherson to a red card for his second bookable offence of the game--a late challenge on Mike Noble eight minutes into the second half-- and Caley Jags sweeper Graeme Bennett, also booked in the first half, saw red in the immediate aftermath. Three minutes later, Charlie Christie Followed after he appeared to swap punches with Billy Herd in County's 18-yard box and what had been a cracker of a game suddenly became a damp squid after just 56 minutes. "The sting needs to be taken out of these derby games because there is so much pressure on both sets of players to perform when they play against each other," said Caley Jags manager Steve Paterson after his first Third Division derby in the Telford Street hot-seat. At half-time, the game was balanced on a knife-edge after Macpherson pounced to head County level on the half-hour, cancelling out Alan Hercher's 18th-minute opener for the home side. "In hindsight, I could have been more positive with my substitutions when we were playing against nine men for the last half-hour of the game," said County boss Bobby Wilson. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Robert (Bobby) Wilson |
| Starting 11 | 1: Stephen Hutchison, 2: William Furphy, 3: Robert (Robbie) Williamson 1, 4: William (Billy) Herd, 5: David MacKay, 6: Johnston Bellshaw, 7: Cameron Robertson, 8: Gordon Connelly, 9: Keith (Billy) Ferries, 10: Colin Milne 1, 11: Jamie MacPherson 1 2 1 |
| Bench | 0: Russell McFee, 0: Andrew (Andy) MacLeod 1, 0: Brian Grant |
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | |
| Manager | Steve Paterson |
| Starting 11 | Jim Calder, Iain McArthur 1, Richard Hastings, Graeme Bennett 2 1, Mike Noble, Norman MacMillan, Davie Ross, John Scott, Iain Stewart, Charlie Christie, Alan Hercher 1 |
| Bench | Mark McAllister, Colin Mitchell, Martin Lisle |