| Date | Saturday, 30 March 1996 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 3 |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 1:2 Brechin City |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 2,362 |
| Referee | Martin Clark |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Mike Tremlett for the Press & Journal. Ross County 1 Brechin City 2 Aberdeen have joined the growing posse of top-flight clubs on both sides of the border tracking Ross County's 16-year-old striker Paul Bradshaw. Dons coach Drew Jarvie watched the lanky Duncan Ferguson Lookalike come off the bench and scored against the best defence in the country with a second half header straight out of Everton and Scotland hit-man's repertoire. The Invergordon youngster who is on a full-time YTS-style Skill seekers course at the Dingwall club, put a hard contract offer from Coventry City on hold last week to keep his options open. Word of the teenager's all-round ability and good first touch has already reached Blackburn Rovers. But Bradshaw's 86th minute goal--a textbook back post finish to a Billy Ferries cross--was the only bright spot for County fans in Saturday's 2,400 crowd which watched the Dingwall side lose 2-1 to a far superior Brechin City. Two goals from City striker Billy McNeill--the player Ross boss Bobby Wilson sighed for Raith Rovers during his spell in charge at Stark's Park--sent Brechin into top spot and killed off County's promotion challenge for another year. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Robert (Bobby) Wilson |
| Starting 11 | 1: Stephen Hutchison, 2: William Furphy, 3: Stuart Golabek 1, 4: Christopher (Chris) Somerville, 5: William (Billy) Herd, 6: David MacKay, 7: Johnston Bellshaw, 8: Colin Milne, 9: Keith (Billy) Ferries, 10: Andrew (Andy) MacLeod 1, 11: Brian Grant |
| Bench | 0: Paul Bradshaw 1, 0: Gordon Connelly, 0: Russell McFee |
| Brechin City | |
| Manager | John Young |
| Starting 11 | Raymond Allan, Brian Mitchell, Bobby Brown, Harry Cairney, Frank Conway, Graham Christie, Billy McNeill 2 1, Craig Farnan 1, Sandy Ross, Dougie Scott, Heddle |
| Bench | Richard Baillie, James McKellar, Stuart Garden |