| Date | Saturday, 26 April 2003 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 3:1 Arbroath |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 2,204 |
| Referee | Alan Freeland |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Ross County 3 Arbroath 1 Ross County put daylight between themselves and Alloa in the fight to avoid the drop with a crucial victory against doomed Arbroath at Victoria Park. Graham Bayne came off the bench to score the clincher against his former teammates in a game County should have won in a canter. For the second week in succession County manager Alex Smith made an inspired substitution to see off the opposition. Smith said: "We put McGarry on last week, who was an ex-St Mirren player, and this week it was Bayne's turn against his former club. "As it turned out both players scored what proved to be the winner. "We've managed to string two victories together now and you can already see the difference in confidence." Brian Irvine was the only absentee from the County team which ended a seven-match losing streak against St Mirren last week. Teenage defender Sean Webb replaced the suspended Irvine and did a good job at the heart of the defence. The breakthrough came in the 16th minute when when Robertson burst into the Arbroath penalty area, dribbled past a couple of defenders and shot past Hinchcliffe. But the Red Lichties were back on level terms within a minute when a long, looping cross from Greig Henslee was headed home by the unmarked Paul Brownlie. County did not take long to recover their lead in the 20th minute when a high, hopeful ball from MacKay was knocked down by Robertson and Winters picked his spot from eight yards. It was time for fresh legs in the 69th minute when Bayne replaced Sean Higgins up front and within five minutes the points were in the bag. The big striker collected the ball on the edge of the area and curled his shot into the top corner. Arbroath manager John Brownlie said: "The first two goals were preventable and I thought during the first 25 minutes of the second half we were the better team. The score of 3-1 was a bit harch on us." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Alexander (Alex) Smith |
| Starting 11 | 1: Anthony (Tony) Bullock, 2: Hugh Robertson 1, 3: Sean Webb, 4: Steven MacKay, 5: David Hannah, 6: Steven Ferguson, 7: Mark McCulloch 1, 8: David Winters 1, 9: Craig Campbell, 10: Sean Higgins, 11: Conor Gethins |
| Bench | 0: Leslie Fridge, 0: Michael Bolochoweckyj, 0: Kevin McLeish, 0: Graham Bayne 1, 0: Steven McGarry |
| Arbroath | |
| Manager | John Brownlie |
| Starting 11 | Craig Hinchcliffe, Eddie Forrest, Andy Dow, Kevin McMullan, Euan Graham, John Cusick, Steve Florence, Andy Cargill, Greig Henslee, Paul Durno, Paul Brownlie 1 |
| Bench | Tim Woodcock, John McAulay, Ross Currie, Gavin Swankie, Kevin Heenan |