| Date | Saturday, 07 December 2002 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 4:0 Saint Mirren |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 2,429 |
| Referee | Garry Mitchell |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Ross County 4 Saint Mirren 0 Graham Bayne helped make Alex Smith's home debut as Ross County manager a memorable one with a glorious hat-trick. The former Dundee striker impressed his new boss with his clinical finishing--and Smith revealed he came close to picking Bayne for the Scotland under-21 team. Smith said: "I was very pleased. Bayne worked very hard last week without any reward and it was nice to see him score. The hat-trick will do him the world of good. When I was with the under-21 squad he was recommended to me by Jocky Scott and Jimmy Bone at Dundee. "But there was a clutch of decent strikers about then and it was hard to get into the team. "I was well aware of Bayne and I know he did a good job when he went to Arbroath last tear. "Now it's just a question of him believing in himself and having confidence. You can see he is a good finisher and he has the physique for the job." On County's performance, Smith Added: "It was a great result. St Mirren is a club with a fair history, so it is important for us to get results against teams such as them. "I thought it was an even game for a long time. In fact, I thought St Mirren started better than we did. We looked a bit nervous early on. But once we settled down and got the break before half-time with the first goal, we showed a lot more confidence and a lot more adventure in our play." The breakthrough came in the final minute of the half when a seemingly harmless cross-cum-shot from Kenny Gilbert was helped on its way past Buddies goalkeeper Kris Robertson by Bayne's outstretched foot. Bayne was on target again six minutes into the second half when the ball fell kindly for him after Robertson's cross from the right eluded the Buddies defence. The big striker drilled the ball into the far corner of the net from 15 yards. St Mirren hit back and Paul Deas was forced to clear a Hugh Miller attempt off the line. Then Bullock pulled off a magnificent diving save from a Gillies rocket. But it was County who struck again in 81st minute. McGarry, who had a fine game against his old team, sent in a fierce shot Robertson could only parry and Bayne was lurking to poke the ball home for his hat-trick. Substitute Steve MacKay rounded off a fine afternoon's work for Smith's new charges with an injury time tap-in. Buddies manager John Coughlan said: "I was disappointed with the way we defended. It was shocking. "I thought we controlled the game for long spells, but if you defend the way we did you will get punished. When we lose, we never lose just 1-0, we always seem to get a right doing. It's mystifying." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Alexander (Alex) Smith |
| Starting 11 | 1: Anthony (Tony) Bullock, 2: Martin Canning, 3: Hugh Robertson, 4: Paul Deas, 5: Mark Perry, 6: Brian Irvine, 7: Kenneth Gilbert, 8: Mark McCulloch, 9: Alexander Bone 1, 10: Steven McGarry, 11: Graham Bayne 3 |
| Bench | 0: Leslie Fridge, 0: Sean Webb, 0: Steven MacKay 1, 0: Don (JNR) Cowie, 0: Steven Hislop |
| Saint Mirren | |
| Manager | John Coughlin |
| Starting 11 | Kris Robertson, David Lowing, Graham Guy, Ricky Robb, Kirk Broadfoot, Hugh Murray, Simon Lappin, Ian Ross, Junior Mendes, Mark Yardley, Ricky Gillies |
| Bench | Ludovic Roy, Paul Rudden, Jamie McGowan, Chris Kerr, David Jack |