| Date | Saturday, 06 November 1993 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Highland League |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 3:1 Fraserburgh |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | |
| Referee | Andy Robb |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Kevin Williams for the Press & Journal. Ross County 3 Fraserburgh 1 Ross County manager Bobby Wilson missed the first half of his team's match at home to Fraserburgh on Saturday in favour of a spying mission on their opponents in next week's Qualifying Cup final, Huntly, who were busy taking three points from Caley in Inverness. "It was an opportunity I couldn't miss," said Wilson. "I thought I might learn something and I was impressed with them. The final will certainly see a clash of styles as Huntly tend to use route one while we prefer to knock it about." County took 20 minutes to settle down against a lively Broch. The visitors could have been at least two up by then but they paid the price for some near misses before County Punished two bad defensive errors. Fraserburgh boss Charlie Duncan rates his 17-year old striker Mike STEPHEN very highly and the youngster showed his tremendous potential with a terrific finish to open the scoring in the second minute. He quickly controlled a long diagonal pass from Keith McCredie before slamming an unstoppable shot from 10 yards past Hutchison and into the far corner. Paul Keith and Scott Murray, the youngster interesting Liverpool, both missed chances to widen the gap before some delightful skill from Andy MACLEOD gave the home fans something to cheer about. He evaded two tackles on the edge of the penalty area and played a quick one-two with Brian Grant before burying his shot past Gordon. Alan Duff then missed a golden opportunity to put County ahead before limping off with a hamstring injury. His replacement, Barry WILSON, got straight into the act and the substitute's block tackle on keeper Gordon's clearance after some hesitant defending was rewarded with an open goal which he duly found. There was less action in the second half and it will be remembered for one bizarre moment when the linesman had his flag up for offside against the Broch. Steve Hutchison left his area to pick up the ball but referee Robb had played the advantage. The verdict was a free kick to the visitors but Hutchison could so easily have been red carded and thus missed out on Saturday's final. With 10 minutes left, an impressive sprint down the left flank by Wilson, which left Scott Clark floundering, ended with a square ball and GRANT's easiest goal of the season. Charlie Duncan was not too happy with his team's defending but conceded that his players were far behind County in their passing ability. Referee Robb earned some angry reactions for some of his decisions in a very competitive match. He showed the yellow card to Geddes, Thomson, Clark, Marino Keith and Paul Keith of Fraserburgh and Reid of County. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Robert (Bobby) Wilson |
| Starting 11 | 1: Stephen Hutchison, 2: Christopher (Chris) Somerville, 3: Craig Reid 1, 4: Robert (Robbie) Williamson, 5: Johnston Bellshaw, 6: Alexander (Sandy) MacLeod 1, 7: Keith (Billy) Ferries, 8: Brian Grant 1, 9: Alan Duff, 10: Gordon Connelly, 11: Andrew (Andy) MacLeod |
| Bench | 0: Barry Wilson 1, 0: Robbie Stewart |