| Date | Tuesday, 23 September 2003 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Cup |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 0:3 Queen of the South |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 959 |
| Referee | Garry Mitchell |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Ross County 0 Queen of the South 3 Ross County crashed out of the CIS League Cup after a lacklustre display against Queen of the South at Victoria Park last night. "One of the worst things you can do against a team like Queen of the South is to lose an early goal. They set their stall out well after that and then they scored a second goal," said Ross County manager Alex Smith following the 3-0 defeat. "We put on the big boys in Jim Hamilton and Graham Bayne at the start of the second half, but Queens scored a fluke third goal to finish the tie. We're out of the cup and need to concentrate on the league now." Queens boss John Connelly was delighted after an Alex Burke double and a fortuitous goal from Paul Burns put his side in the third round. "After a nightmare draw, it was a tremendous performance from the players. Having played most of our matches away this season, we would really like a big home draw in the next round." he said. The home side had started well, but it was Queens who took the lead in the fifth minute when a Joe McAlpine grounder was turned into the net from close range by Alex Burke. Burke went close to grabbing a second when he got on the end of a Steve O'Connor through-ball, but his header went wide. The former Rangers and Kilmarnock striker was causing the County defence all sorts of problems and he sent another header over the crossbar in the 11th minute. County hit back and a Hugh Robertson ball into the box found Steve McGarry at the back post, but the Dingwall player failed to get his shot on target. However, it was Queens who were enjoying the better of things and they increased their lead seven minutes from the break when County defender Stewart Malcolm lost possession on the edge of the area and Burke took full advantage to steer the ball past home keeper Colin Stewart. Smith rang the changes at the start of the second half with Hamilton and Bayne replacing Sean Higgins and McGarry. And the move nearly paid off in their first attack when a Hamilton flick on set up MacKay, but Queens keeper Colin Scott was quick off his line to block the shot. Robertson then tested Scott with a 30yd drive and the keeper did well to turn the ball past the post for a corner. But further disaster struck for County and a Paul Burns cross from the right took a wicked deflection off a County defender and ended up in the far corner of the net in the 51st minute. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Alexander (Alex) Smith |
| Starting 11 | 1: Colin Stewart, 2: Stuart Malcolm, 3: Jordon Tait, 4: Hugh Robertson, 5: Jamie McCunnie, 6: Mark McCulloch, 7: Steven MacKay, 8: Don (JNR) Cowie, 9: John Rankin, 10: Sean Higgins, 11: Steven McGarry |
| Bench | 0: Leslie Fridge, 0: Sean Webb, 0: Stephen O'Donnell, 0: James Hamilton, 0: Graham Bayne |
| Queen of the South | |
| Manager | John Connolly |
| Starting 11 | Colin Scott, Brian Reid, Eric Paton, Jim Thomson, Steve Bowey, David Bagan, Joe McAlpine, Paul Talbot, Alex Burke 2, Shaun O'Connor, John Paul Burns 1 |
| Bench | John Dodds, Andrew Aitken, Brian McColligan, Emillio Jaconelli, Garry Wood |