| Date | Saturday, 10 August 2002 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 2:0 Queen of the South |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 2,894 |
| Referee | Garry Mitchell |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Paul Third for the Press & Journal. Ross County 2 Queen of the South 0 Ross County substitute Martin Wood celebrated his home debut for the club with a late goal against former Motherwell teammate Andy Goram. It was one to savour for Wood, who had hitherto never beaten "The Goalie". He said: "I'am happy to be enjoying my football again and it was great to finally beat Andy Goram. I never managed it in training at Fir Park but it's great to see one go in when it matters. "I didn't feel part of the club at Motherwell but I feel at home already here in Dingwall. I like playing in the hole behind the strikers but I'm not bothered where I play as long as I get a game. I just have to do well when I get the chance and make it difficult for the manager to leave me out." County boss Neale Cooper said: "Martin showed he has tremendous ability and he sees things other players don't. He has worked hard pre-season and he just needs to wait for his starting chance. "Martin played on the left of midfield for us and I think he can play in a number of positions--which makes him a very good acquisition." Cooper paid tribute to the battling quality shown by his players in the second half and believes John Connelly's Doonhamers will test all the teams in the First Division. He said: "We had a lot of possession in the first half without really hurting them but we put some pressure on 15 minutes before the break. "We changed to a back four in the second half and I though everyone worked their socks off. Queen of the South are a good side and they will do well in this division. "It's a good start but we haven't set any targets. We just want to play at our capabilities every week. If we do that, we can stay up at the top of the table for most of the season." County opened the scoring with man-of-the-match Conor Gethins the provider. The Republic of Ireland under-19 international raced clear down the right wing and his pinpoint cross was met by captain Steve Ferguson. who bulleted a header past Goram from eight yards. The visitors almost equalised in 57 minutes when Steven Bowey's 20-yards strike beat County keeper Tony Bullock only to hit a post. Wood made the points secure with the second goal in the last minute. McGarry chipped the ball across goal and Wood dummied Derek Anderson before lashing the ball high past Goram into the top right hand corner from 18 yards. Connelly said: "It's a new learning curve for us and we won't know how good we are until after the first quarter of games. "The second goal was disappointing but I'm very happy with the effort and performance." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Neale Cooper |
| Starting 11 | 1: Anthony (Tony) Bullock, 2: Sean Webb 1, 3: Mark Perry, 4: Brian Irvine, 5: Mark McCulloch, 6: Don (JNR) Cowie, 7: Steven MacKay, 8: Kenneth Gilbert, 9: Steven Ferguson, 10: Conor Gethins, 11: Steven McGarry |
| Bench | 0: Leslie Fridge, 0: Martin Canning, 0: Paul Deas, 0: Alexander Bone, 0: Martin Wood 1 |
| Queen of the South | |
| Manager | John Connolly |
| Starting 11 | Andy Goram, Derek Anderson, Derek Allan, Andrew Aitken, Eric Paton, Alan Gray, Paddy Atkinson, Steve Bowey, Joe McAlpine, Derek Lyle, Shaun O'Connor |
| Bench | Colin Scott, Jon O'Neil, Brian McColligan, Peter Weatherson, Brian McLaughlin |