Date	Saturday, 07 August 2004
Competition	Scottish League Division 1
Fixture/Score	Queen of the South 0:1 Ross County
Venue	Palmerston Park
Attendance	1,910
Referee	Crawford Allan
Comments	Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Queen of the South 0 Ross County 1 Ross County manager Alex Smith was delighted with his side's opening-day victory, which made their long journey back to Dingwall from Dumfries a happy one for a change. On four previous visits to Palmerston Park over the past two seasons, County had a disappointing record of one draw and three defeats. But former Queens forward Alex Burke's first-half winner on Saturday ensured the Highlanders started the First Division campaign as they mean to go on. Smith said: "In fairness to Queens, they came back at us, but I'm pleased that the players showed great character to hold on for the result. Burke is such a clever player and although his shot took a deflection, it was a great goal. "This is my first win in Dumfries as manager of County, so it's a relief to get that monkey off my back. it also makes up for our disappointing performance here at the end of last season(County lost 2-1). "I feel we are moving in the right direction. Last year we needed stability, but I would like to think that we could be up there challenging for the title. "We have built up a strong squad with good players and we still have Stuart Taylor to come into the side." Ross County goalkeeper Stuart Garden pulled off a terrific block in the 29th minute to deny Queens captain Stevie Bowey before David McNiven blasted wide seven minutes later as the home side pressed for an opener. The opener did arrive in the 40th minute, however it was County who provided it. A Steven McGarry cross was flicked on into the path of Burke by Gary McSwegan. Burke composed himself and drilled a low volley into the corner of the net with the aid of a Jim Thomson deflection. With eight minutes to go, County substitute David Winters collected the ball 25 yards out and unleashed a fierce strike which cracked off the bar, but, in the end, the visitors did not need a killer second goal to secure all three points.
Ross County
Manager	Alexander (Alex) Smith
Starting 11	1: Stuart Garden, 2: James Lauchlan, 3: John Robertson, 4: Martin Canning, 5: John Rankin, 6: Jamie McCunnie, 7: Don (JNR) Cowie, 8: Mark McCulloch, 9: Alexander Burke 1, 10: Gary McSwegan, 11: Steven McGarry
Bench	0: John Mccaffrey, 0: Stuart Malcolm, 0: Steven MacKay, 0: David Winters, 0: Sean Higgins
Queen of the South
Manager	Iain Scott
Starting 11	Colin Scott, Christopher Scott 1, Brian Reid, Tom English, Jim Thomson, Steve Bowey, David Bagan, Brian McColligan, David McNiven, Chris Armstrong, Brian McLaughlin
Bench	Craig Samson, Stephen Payne, Paul Hilland, Paul Burns, Willie Gibson