Date	Saturday, 08 January 1994
Competition	Scottish Cup
Fixture/Score	Forfar Athletic 0:4 Ross County
Venue	Station Park
Attendance	2,439
Referee	Louis Thow
Comments	Match Report Report by Ritchie McNab for the Press & Journal. Forfar Athletic 0 Ross County 4 Striker Brian Grant was Ross County's hero with a stunning Tennents Scottish Cup hat-trick to sink Forfar in Saturday's second-round tie at Station Park. The feat saw Grant claim his second man of the match award in as many starts and also the £250 bonus that goes with it. This was a vintage Ross County performance. They were sound in defence, creative in midfield and deadly dangerous in front of goals. For Forfar, it was a day of misery that began as early as the third minute and it was a case of pressing the self-destruct button when centre half Eric Archibald was sent off. In full view of referee Louis Thow the tall defender foolishly lashed out at former Don Andy MacLeod, catching him full in the face with his elbow, and the referee had no hesitation in showing the red card. The Dingwall men, with numerical superiority, took control and, to the delight of their large following, took the lead in 16 minutes. Somerville sent Billy Ferries scampering down the right wing with a perfectly-weighed pass a when his inch-perfect cross came in GRANT was well placed to beat Gordon Arthur from 12 yards. The roars of the County fans in the 2,439 crowd had barely died down when their favourites struck again a minute later, a neat cut-back by Grant found Barry WILSON and he coolly slotted the ball into the corner of the net. Forfar's pride had been dented but, to their credit, they tried to hit back. Twice their most dangerous attacker, Dave Bingham, went close with an overhead shot just shaved the crossbar and a header from an Ian McPhee cross looked net bound until Barry Wilson cleared it off the line. Ross County all but booked a third round spot in 50 minutes when they went three ahead. Alex Hamill deflected a through ball from Wilson into the path of GRANT, who gratefully accepted the gift by sending a powerful shot past goalkeeper Arthur to the delight of the County faithful. The Loon's cup of woe was completed in 71 minutes and it was that man GRANT again. Springing the offside trap, he ran on to calmly lob the ball over the advancing keeper into a vacant net to complete an excellent afternoon's work. Goal hero Grant said: "It was a great team effort but full credit must go to the boss and his assistant, Don Cowie, who got the tactics right. "Our game plan was to use the flanks as much as possible to draw the defenders out of the middle and it worked a treat. With us having the extra man, it gave Chris Somerville ample opportunity to attack on the overlap." With the roars of the fans still ringing in his ears, Ross County boss Bobby Wilson said: "I am totally delighted with our performance. I could not have asked for anything better but, in fairness to Forfar, it was made that bit easier with the ordering off." Wilson Added: "When we arrived in Forfar at lunchtime I found that was to be a 1pm pitch inspection of Station Park. This led me to make a hurried phone call to a former teammate of mine at Dundee, namely Jim McLean, now Dundee United chairman who hurriedly despatched a selection of multi-stud rubber soled boots to Forfar. I cannot thank him enough for this generous gesture."
Ross County
Manager	Robert (Bobby) Wilson
Starting 11	1: Stephen Hutchison, 2: Christopher (Chris) Somerville, 3: Craig Reid, 4: Robert (Robbie) Williamson, 5: Johnston Bellshaw, 6: Alexander (Sandy) MacLeod, 7: Keith (Billy) Ferries, 8: Brian Grant 3, 9: Andrew (Andy) MacLeod, 10: Gordon Connelly, 11: Barry Wilson 1
Bench	0: Cameron Robertson, 0: Gary Ross