| Date | Saturday, 18 January 2003 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Saint Mirren 1:0 Ross County |
| Venue | Love Street |
| Attendance | 2,266 |
| Referee | Brian Cassidy |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Paul Third for the Press & Journal. Saint Mirren 1 Ross County 1 Alex Smith, hit out at the "stupid" rule which left his Ross County side battling with 10 men as they went down 1-0 to St Mirren at Paisley. It saw the Dingwall men drop to eighth place in the First Division and into the relegation zone. County boss Smith believes it would have been a different story had the Dingwall men not lost defender Sean Webb early in the game. Webb was sent off after just 27 minutes after he stumbled under pressure from Buddies striker Junior Mendes and handled the ball as he fell on top of it. Smith said: "I thought the sending-off was harsh. He fell on the ball and it was not a scoring opportunity for St Mirren. Brian Irvine was level with Sean and it was 40 yards from goal. It is one of those stupid rules they have introduced to football. Sean is very distraught about it. The lad had not given away a foul before that." The decision by referee Brian Cassidy made it hard for County's 10 men but Smith was pleased by the way they reacted. He added: "With 10 men, we played well and had a great chance with the best move of the match. St Mirren had most territorial possession but a draw would have been a result we deserved." County should have taken the lead when the ball fell to new signing Tassos Venetis but, with space and time, he shot wide of the target. That was immediately punished when the Buddies rushed to the other end for CAMERON to slip a low cut-back from Junior Mendes into the corner of the net for the only goal of the game. In the early exchanges, Steve Hislop came close to opening the scoring for County. But when Webb received that red card, the initiative swung to the home side and Simon Lappin came close with a low drive. Despite losing the goal, County never gave up. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Alexander (Alex) Smith |
| Starting 11 | 1: Anthony (Tony) Bullock, 2: Sean Webb 1, 3: Hugh Robertson, 4: Martin Canning, 5: Brian Irvine, 6: Kenneth Gilbert 1, 7: Mark McCulloch, 8: Kevin McLeish, 9: Steven Hislop, 10: Anastasios Venetis, 11: Graham Bayne |
| Bench | 0: Leslie Fridge, 0: Mark Perry 1, 0: Don (JNR) Cowie, 0: David Winters, 0: Steven McGarry |
| Saint Mirren | |
| Manager | John Coughlin |
| Starting 11 | Ludovic Roy, Greig Denham, Graham Guy, Martin Baker, Hugh Murray 1, Ally Mitchell, Simon Lappin, Junior Mendes, Martin Cameron 1, Ricky Gillies, A Trialist |
| Bench | Kris Robertson, Chris Kerr, David Lowing, Kirk Broadfoot, Jamie Dunbar |