Date	Saturday, 18 September 1993
Competition	Highland League
Fixture/Score	Ross County 3:2 Keith
Venue	Victoria Park
Attendance
Referee	A. Robb
Comments	Match Report Report by Kevin Williams for the Press & Journal. Ross County 3 Keith 2 Ross County supporters have given an emphatic "Yes" to the club to go ahead with plans to apply for Scottish League status. The fans voted 418 to 157 in favour of the league push at Dingwall on Saturday. The ambitious County committee spelled out the pros and cons of the proposed move to their fans in the local press and that proved to be a wise decision. "Once the supporters were informed of the advantages for Ross County, I had no doubt that they would support the application," said manager Bobby Wilson. "Being in the Scottish League is the way ahead for this club and the players are all delighted with the result of the ballot." At times it seemed that the County players had this important issue on their minds on Saturday as they struggled to put two passes together against hard-working Keith. But the lackadaisical defending and wayward passing was soon forgotten as the home side notched up a 3-0 lead with some exceptional finishing. In 15 minutes, Gordon Connelly touched a free kick into the path of Robbie WILLIAMSON, who blasted a 25-yard shot into the top corner of the net. Barry WILSON made it two before half-time when, with everybody in the ground looking for the offside flag, he found himself all alone in the six yard box and tapped home an Andy MacLeod mishit shot. It looked all over for Keith when the impressive Brian GRANT curled in a 12-yard shot after the break, but the visitors rolled up their sleeves and battled their way back into the game. Gary THOW found the top corner from 30 yards and Keith saw a glimmer of hope. Thow came close to repeating his feat then Keith Watt should have punished a mistake by Sandy MacLeod. The visitors deservedly reduced the deficit with 10 minutes to go when WATT converted an Ally Brebner cross but County held on to take the points. The two teams meet again at Keith on Saturday in a Qualifying Cup tie and Keith manager Jim Hamilton is optimistic about the outcome. "We proved in the last half hour that we can cause County problems and the players know that they have nothing to fear. Our tactics will be different on Saturday and we are capable of getting into the next round," said Hamilton. Bobby Wilson was very disappointed with the form of some of his more experienced players and he knows that a similar display at Kynoch Park could see the end of any dream of a Scottish Cup run. Chris Somerville and skipper Cammy Robertson of County and Ally Brebner and Malcolm Thomson of Keith were all booked.
Ross County
Manager	Robert (Bobby) Wilson
Starting 11	1: Stephen Hutchison, 2: Christopher (Chris) Somerville 1, 3: Alexander (Sandy) MacLeod, 4: Robert (Robbie) Williamson 1, 5: Johnston Bellshaw, 6: Cameron Robertson 1, 7: Tommy Drummond, 8: Brian Grant 1, 9: Andrew (Andy) MacLeod, 10: Gordon Connelly, 11: Barry Wilson 1
Bench	0: Alan Duff, 0: Craig Reid