| Date | Saturday, 07 May 2005 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 1:1 Clyde |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 2,130 |
| Referee | Douglas McDonald |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Ross County 1 Clyde 1 Alex Burke came off the bench to rescue a point for Ross County in a dour match with the Bully Wee at Victoria Park. Burke's equaliser ensured a top-six finish for County in a season which had promised so much. County manager Alex Smith said: "I didn't think we played well in the first half. Clyde were sharper on the ball and we looked a bit apprehensive. "The side was chosen in order to give some young players a game, but when Burke came on it made a big difference." Clyde looked up for it from the kick-off and Craig Bryson was clean through on goal in the second minute--but Martin Canning did well to block his goal bound effort. Bryson got in behind the County defence again 11 minutes later, but this time goalkeeper Colin Stewart made a brave stop to deny him. But it was third-time lucky for Bryson when he pounced on a slip from Neil MacDonald to steer the ball past Stewart in the 23rd minute. The goal gave County a wakeup call and Steve McGarry came close with a flashing header in the 34th minute. Then Clyde goalkeeper Bryn Halliwell was forced to make a point-blank save from on-loan Chelsea youngster Kevin McKinlay just before the break. Halliwell did not appear in the second half and was replaced by Alan Morrison. The game seemed to be drifting away from County, with the Bully Wee happy to hit on the break--but the introduction of Burke changed all that. The former Queen of the South forward struck in 69 minutes, within 11 minutes of replacing Tiernan. Cowie charged down the right flank and his deep cross was headed powerfully past Clyde's stand-in goalkeeper Alan Morrison by the unmarked Burke. Clyde's Gary Bollan said: "I think both teams were probably happy with a draw. It was a wide-open game and I think some of the football was really good." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Alexander (Alex) Smith |
| Starting 11 | 1: Colin Stewart, 2: Martin Canning, 3: Neil McDonald, 4: Kevin McKinlay, 5: Mark McCulloch, 6: Sean Kilgannon, 7: Fergus Tiernan, 8: Don (JNR) Cowie, 9: John Rankin 1, 10: Sean Higgins, 11: Steven McGarry |
| Bench | 0: Stuart Garden, 0: Adam Moffat, 0: Shaun Kerr, 0: Alexander Burke 1, 0: David Winters |
| Clyde | |
| Manager | Billy Reid |
| Starting 11 | Bryn Halliwell, Miguel Espinola, Mark Gilhaney, Craig Bryson, John-Paul Potter, Darren Sheridan, Kevin Bradley, James Gibson, Chris Gardiner, Eddie Malone, Bob Harris |
| Bench | Stuart Balmer, Paul Flaherty, Alan Morrison, John Paul McKeever, David Greenhill |