| Date | Tuesday, 26 August 2003 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish Challenge Cup |
| Fixture/Score | Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1:0 Ross County |
| Venue | Caledonian Stadium |
| Attendance | 2,631 |
| Referee | Willie Young |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1 Ross County 0 Steven Hislop's fifth goal of the season booked Caley Thistle's place in the Bell's Cup semi-final in a deceptively one-sided north affair. The powerful blast four minutes after the break also helped avenge a 5-1 thrashing on the last meeting between the sides at Caledonian Stadium. On a night when infamous naked rambler Steve Gough was expected to pass near by, it was County who were exposed while Caley Thistle showed naked ambition. In front of the lowest attendance between the sides outside Inverness Cup meetings, County were strangely punchless, but Hislop must have enjoyed his moment against the club he agitated to leave last January. There were no surprises in either starting line-up for the first Highland derby meeting in a national cup competition. As expected, injury ruled out veteran Charlie Christie for the home outfit, white County had six derby debutants. It proved a tentative start, but Roy McBain twice troubled County after five minutes. First his dangerous cross had David Bingham out leaping the County defence, but Colin Stewart clutched the header. Then, seconds later, McBain let fly with a powerful drive which the ex-Kilmarnock keeper again held. County's retaliation came in the form of a John Rankin drive from 20 yards, easily dealt with by Mark Brown in 10 minutes. Six minutes later, County won a free kick 22 yards out and Rankin curled the dead ball low around the wall but couldn't beat Brown. As the half hour approached, it was all Caley Thistle but Bingham inexplicably squared the ball in a scoring position after being sent into the box by McBain and the chance evaporated. The heavy pressure continued and Hislop's half volley from eight yards in a crowded box was blocked and then gathered by keeper Stewart. A poor Stuart Golabek pass back let young Sean Higgins clean through in the box in 34 minutes but keeper Brown managed to scramble at his feet and keep him out. At the other end, County keeper Stewart's busy evening continued as he re-directed the ball brilliantly down low from a sharp-angled Paul Richie strike. Caley ended the half the more potent attacking force with McBain, Hislop and Bingham the main threats. County looked livelier briefly after the break, but the hosts were rewarded for their first half efforts by taking a 49th minute lead. Hislop played it out to Bingham to the extreme right of the box near the goal line. His instinctive back-heel returned the favour and Hislop hammered the ball low under keeper Stewart from just wide of the angle of the six-yard box. County started to show real urgency and Jordon Tait's speculative 20-yard lob was gathered at full stretch by the backtracking Mark Brown. Hannah received the game's first booking in 63 minutes after felling Richie Hart. Caley's Bingham was taken off late on clutching his side in pain. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Alexander (Alex) Smith |
| Starting 11 | 1: Colin Stewart, 2: Stuart Malcolm 1, 3: Jordon Tait, 4: Jamie McCunnie, 5: Steven MacKay, 6: David Hannah 1, 7: Don (JNR) Cowie, 8: John Rankin, 9: Sean Webb, 10: David Winters, 11: James Hamilton |
| Bench | 0: Leslie Fridge, 0: Stephen O'Donnell, 0: Conor Gethins, 0: Graham Bayne, 0: Don (JNR) Cowie |
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | |
| Manager | John Robertson |
| Starting 11 | Mark Brown, Stuart Golabek, Bobby Mann, Ross Tokely, Russell Duncan, Richard Hart, Stuart McCaffrey, David Bingham, Steve Hislop, Roy McBain, Paul Ritchie |
| Bench | Grant Munro, Michael Fraser, Lewis MacKinnon, David Proctor, Darran Thomson |