| Date | Saturday, 17 October 1992 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Highland League |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 2:2 Lossiemouth |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | |
| Referee | J. Bruce |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Bob MacKinnon for the Press & Journal. Ross County 2 Lossiemouth 2 A last-minute goal from Gordon Connelly saved league champions Ross County from the embarrassment of a fourth successive defeat at Victoria Park. Without detracting from Lossiemouth's solid performance, this was, for the great majority of the game, a pale imitation of the County side that had the fans in raptures throughout the last two seasons. In the first half they were constantly caught in possession and far too many passes went badly astray. Their defence, which started with Sandy MacLeod at left back, made a nervous start and Lossiemouth could have scored three times before the interval. A miscued pass by MacLeod provided a gilt-edged chance for Ian Shaw, which was easily saved by Hutchinson. Roy Main thundered a 25-yard drive against the bar and Scott Paterson fired over when it appeared easier to score. Brian Grant missed a good chance in one of County's spasmodic raids, but it was only a brief respite. Lossiemouth came storming back and Ian Stewart, by far the best player on the field. waltzed past MacLeod and laid the ball into the path of SHAW who gave Hutchison no chance. County rearranged their line up for the second period. Andy MacLeod replaced namesake Sandy and Cammy Robertson went to left back. They were just getting themselves organised when an injury to Chris Sommerville forced further changes. Alan Duff came off the bench but he scarcely had to touch the ball before the visitors increased their lead. Stewart, showing superb close control, beat Johnston Bellshaw three times within the space of as many yards before threading a reverse pass through the County defence for MAIN to fire low into the bottom corner. But from then on, it was Duff's powerful running and skipper Robertson's determination that sparked County's revival. ROBERTSON reduced the deficit with a 25-yard drive and then created the opportunity for CONNELLY to volley home the late equaliser. County are undoubtedly missing the pace of Barry Wilson, who watched the game from the stand, but that is only part of their problems. "Too many players are not playing up to their capabilities," said Ross boss Bobby Wilson. "But we got it together in the last half hour and although we left it very late, I thought we deserved a draw. "That could prove to be the break we needed to rebuild our confidence and things should now start to pick up for us." The pace of the Lossiemouth attack, so skilfully led by Stewart, is going to wreck a lot of defences this season. Scott Paterson and Norman Kellas dominated the midfield for long periods and their rear guard, apart from a possible lapse when Connelly levelled the scores, looked very competent. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Robert (Bobby) Wilson |
| Starting 11 | 1: Stephen Hutchison, 2: Christopher (Chris) Somerville, 3: Gary Campbell, 4: Robert (Robbie) Williamson, 5: Johnston Bellshaw, 6: Alexander (Sandy) MacLeod, 7: Keith (Billy) Ferries, 8: Brian Grant, 9: Gary Ross, 10: Gordon Connelly 1, 11: Cameron Robertson 1 |
| Bench | 0: Alan Duff, 0: Andrew (Andy) MacLeod |