| Date | Saturday, 04 December 2004 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 1:1 Hamilton Academical |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 2,034 |
| Referee | Steven Duff |
| Comments | Match Report Published: Press & Journal 6/12/2004 Ross County 1 Hamilton Accies 1 Smith riled by 'negative' tactics Ross County manager Alex Smith voiced his frustration at the way Hamilton Accies set our their stall at Victoria Park on Saturday and went back down the A9 with a point. After a goalless first half dominated by County, Steve McGarry gave the home side a deserved lead in the 57th minute, But Accies grabbed an equaliser against the run of play five minutes later when Scott Turnbridge fired home. Smith said: "Hamilton came up here not to lose-and not to lose heavily. They sat back with nine players behind the ball. We had wave after wave of attack and must have had 90% of the possession," The Dingwall manager added: "We scored a cracking goal and we should have gone on to score a second, but a lapse of concentration allowed them back in." County started brightly and McGarry blasted wide. Then in a rare Accies attack, Mark Corcoran was not far away with a long-range effort. County were finding it hard to break down a solid Accies defence and in another break-away move from the visitors, Chris Aitken curled a shot narrowly past. County almost took the lead in the 37th minute, but Accies goalkeeper David McEwan did well to touch McGarry's free kick on to the bar before full back Iain Fyfe headed the rebound over. David Winters replaced Sean Higgins at the start of the second half and the former Dundee United man was involved in the build-up to the opening goal. Winters's cross-field pass found McGarry in space and he turned and fired a left-foot shot into the net. That looked to be that, but Hamilton had other ideas. A long ball from Aitken picked out Corcoran and his cross was stabbed home by Turnbridge from 12 yards. County had chances to win the match and McGarry came close on a couple of occasions with the goal at his mercy. The home side was awarded a free kick in injury time, but John Rankin was twice denied by the Accies wall. Hamilton manager Alan Maitland Said: "County upped the pace in the second half and caused us problems, but our keeper really didn't have a save to make. We dug in and deserved a point." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Alexander (Alex) Smith |
| Starting 11 | 1: Colin Stewart, 2: James Lauchlan, 3: Martin Canning, 4: Stuart Malcolm, 5: Mark McCulloch, 6: Sean Kilgannon, 7: Don (JNR) Cowie, 8: John Rankin, 9: Sean Higgins, 10: Steven McGarry 1, 11: Alexander Burke |
| Bench | 0: Stuart Garden, 0: Steven MacKay, 0: Steven McGarry, 0: David Winters |
| Hamilton Academical | |
| Manager | Allan Maitland |
| Starting 11 | Dave McEwan, Sandy Hodge, Mark McLaughlin, Stevie Thompson, Chris Aitken 1, Derek Ferguson, Ricky Waddell, Mark Corcoran, Scott Turnbridge 1, Brian McPhee, Iain Fyfe |
| Bench | Raymond Jellema, Robert Walker, David Hamilton, Andrew Arbuckle, Stuart Irons |