| Date | Saturday, 09 November 2002 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 0:2 Inverness Caledonian Thistle |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 5,449 |
| Referee | Willie Young |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Dave Edwards for the Press & Journal. Ross County 0 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2 Two goals in the first nine minutes ended Ross County's challenge and kept Caley Thistle's assault on the First Division title very much alive in front of a packed house at Victoria Park, Dingwall, on Saturday. A Barry Robson strike within 50 seconds and an agonising own goal eight minutes later from former Caley Jags skipper Mark McCulloch silenced the home fans, who had little to shout about all afternoon. County boss Neale Cooper is coming under increasing pressure but is refusing to bow to his critics. A grim-faced Cooper emerged from the County dressing-room more than an hour and a quarter after the final whistle. Cooper said: "I've just had a long chat with my assistant, Danny McDonald. I'm not a quitter. When I first came here I lost the first seven games and was criticised, but that's the type of job this is." "We knew we were playing a very good side and we were 1-0 down after less than a minute which makes things difficult. "We then lost another goal when there was no danger behind Mark McCulloch and it was also hard to justify. "We missed Kenny Gilbert and Conor Gethins, while Steve Hislop has only just come back from injury and looked a bit rusty. But we could do with someone in the wider areas to hurt teams and we just don't have it." He added: "It's hard because we don't seem to have anyone at the club who can go and change a game for us. For my own part, I've never worked so hard as I have in the last two weeks and it's frustrating when our fans see the results and criticise me. But that's football. "I can hold my head up, but I can only work with what's here. This time last year we were second bottom of the league and then went on an 18-game unbeaten run." Caley Thistle boss Steve Paterson admitted his side could not have started much better after a brilliant Robson first minute opener. Paterson said: "To be two up after only nine minutes was a great start. "It was a super goal from Barry, who rightly got the man-of-the-match award and, although I still think he took an extra touch a few times in the second half, he's a great talent down the left flank for us. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Neale Cooper |
| Starting 11 | 1: Anthony (Tony) Bullock, 2: Hugh Robertson, 3: Paul Deas 1, 4: Martin Canning, 5: Mark Perry 1, 6: Don (JNR) Cowie, 7: Mark McCulloch 1, 8: Steven MacKay, 9: Steven Ferguson 1, 10: Steven Hislop, 11: Martin Wood |
| Bench | 0: Leslie Fridge, 0: Brian Irvine, 0: Graham Bayne, 0: Grant Davidson, 0: Steven McGarry |
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | |
| Manager | Steve Paterson |
| Starting 11 | Mark Brown, Ross Tokely, Grant Munro 1, Bobby Mann, Stuart Golabek, Barry Robson 1, Roy McBain, Russell Duncan, Richie Hart, Dennis Wyness, Paul Ritchie |
| Bench | Ally Ridgers, Stuart McCaffrey, Charlie Christie, Anthony Low, Liam Keogh |