| Date | Saturday, 17 December 2005 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Hamilton Academical 2:1 Ross County |
| Venue | New Douglas Park |
| Attendance | 1,250 |
| Referee | Ian Brines |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Hamilton Academical 2 Ross County 1 Ross County caretaker manager Garden Speirs was under no illusions about his side's lacklustre performance in this First Division defeat at New Douglas Park. Speirs said: "You are judged when you play teams near you in the league table and we came up short this time." After an outstanding November in which County went off on a run of consecutive wins, December has been a massive disappointment as they have slumped six points behind leaders St Mirren. County know whoever they are up against they cannot afford to give their opponent two goals of a start--as they did at Hamilton. With 28 minutes gone, Steve Thomson swept in to head a Brian Carrigan cross low into the net for the opener. Seven minutes into the second period, Mark McLaughlin rushed forward to send a 12-yard drive beyond County keeper Ian McCaldon. County had their moments, but it was not until Sean Higgins came off the bench they began to look dangerous up front. And it was Higgins who found the net with 12 minutes left when a John Rankin free kick which had been flicked on by Jim Lauchlan arrived at him at the back post. But by then it was too late for County to salvage a point, even though they seemed to grow in confidence with the goal. Speirs added: "We did not start playing until we were two goals down. "While we seemed to be in a winning habit, we are now in a losing one." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Gardner Spiers |
| Starting 11 | 1: Ian McCaldon, 2: Lionel Djebi-Zadi, 3: Sean Webb, 4: David Cowan, 5: James Lauchlan, 6: John Rankin, 7: Mark McCulloch, 8: Don (JNR) Cowie, 9: Stuart Taylor, 10: Alexander Burke, 11: Maciej Nuckowski |
| Bench | 0: Stuart Garden, 0: Fergus Tiernan, 0: Kevin McKinlay, 0: Sean Higgins 1, 0: David Winters |
| Hamilton Academical | |
| Manager | Billy Reid |
| Starting 11 | Dave McEwan, John Robertson, Mark McLaughlin 1, Stevie Thompson 1, Marvyn Wilson, Scott McKenzie, Alex Neil, Derek Fleming, Mark Gilhaney, Brian Carrigan, Graeme Jones |
| Bench | Raymond Jellema, Brown Ferguson, James McArthur, Scott Turnbridge, Pat Keogh |