Date	Saturday, 14 October 1989
Competition	Scottish Qualifying Cup
Fixture/Score	Ross County 1:3 Elgin City
Venue	Victoria Park
Referee
Ross County
Manager	Robert (Bobby) Wilson
Starting 11	1: Derek Rudkin, 2: Christopher (Chris) Somerville 1, 3: Gary Campbell, 4: Robert (Robbie) Williamson, 5: Scott Lemmon, 6: Don Cowie (SNR), 7: George Stewart, 8: Cameron Robertson, 9: James MacKay, 10: Gordon Connelly, 11: Lee O'Brien
Bench	0: Alex (Nero) McDonald, 0: Barry Wilson
Attendance
Match Report	Report from the Ross-shire Journal. Ross County 1 Elgin City 3 NO FURTHER Cup glory for Ross County in the immediate competition — the Scottish Qualifying Cup — as a result of their home 1-3 defeat by Elgin City on Saturday, but the boys went down gloriously, fighting to the end. The first half set-backs, which they suffered would have floored the best of teams, but over the piece the team to emerge with the greatest honour was Ross County, for their spirited and determined second half display. It was not lacking in good football, teamwork and understanding. The heads went down in the home-camp in the 13th minute, when from out of nothing, with no danger threatening, Elgin City went into the lead. Don Cowie seamed to have all the time in the world twenty yards out, to push the ball back to keeper Rudkin. He did, but there was so little power behind his kick, that former County forward Alistair Jappy swiftly moved through after the ball, took it, and as Rudkin advanced simply pushed the ball past him. One gift! The sccond gift — the third goal — came in the 42nd minute, and again little danger seemed to be threatening as young Gary Campbell, under a little pressure from Elgin’s Mackay lobbed the ball back towards his own keeper, only to see it drop down into the net at Rudkin’s right hand post, the latter being off his line at the time. General demoralisation and consternation reigned among County fans, several of whom elected to make their way home at half-time. However, the majority stoically remained and savoured a second half, which was completely dominated by County, who with a bit of luck could have forced a replay. Grim determination was paying off, and the previously confident City team was forced out of its stride, and in the process completely lost any initiative that they had. Only sterling keeping by another former County player, Mike Ure, who was taking a lot of stick from the crowd, prevented the home side from scoring. Elgin City led a very charmed life, but were showing they were there for a beating. As pressure mounted Ure was penalised for time-wasting. County were the first to show their paces in the fifth minute of the match, when Chris Somerville broke down the right wing, and his cross to the far post was headed over the bar by Williamson. At the other end, Rudkin failed to cut out another cross-field pass, which was headed clear for a corner. And then came the 13th minute and humiliation for Don Cowie as his attempted pass-back led to a goal. It was a great shock for the home team, but they struggled bravely, overcoming it by continuing to play constructive football. An equaliser might have come had their finishing been a mite better. However, Elgin were pressing for a consolidation goal while their opponents were still reeling, and it nearly came when Rudkin was caught out of goal and Lemmon headed the ball off the goal line. Somerville was combining well with his colleagues in taking the game to Elgin, and one particular cross to Stewart deserved a better fate, as the striker’s shot was headed away for a corner. Another corner kick was too high for Lemmon to direct his header accurately and the ball went high over the bar. At this point some County players were not meeting the ball with the result Elgin defenders were stepping in and taking up the running. In the 32nd minute, Somerville came through on a pass by Williamson and Ure was very fortunate to get a foot to a low ball, which was diverted from goal as O’Brien came charging in. Elgin’s second goal came in the 38th minute. A throw-in on the right was taken by Jappy on the goal line, and shielding the ball, he slipped it to a colleague, who pushed it across goal. The ball was missed by keeper and defenders and turned home by McGinlay. Came the 42nd minute, and the third goal. Gary Mackay was under pressure from Russell Mackay, when he attempted a long high pass back, which dropped over the keeper’s head. It was a goal and situation which could have completely demoralised any team, but not Ross County, who came out fighting in the second half, and never let Elgin off the hook. It was a period, which produced the best of football from Ross County with many chances going abegging. A shot from James Mackay from 25 yards deserved a better fate than simply rebounding off the crossbar. However, in the 67th minute, substitute Barry Wilson’s speed and thrust took him from his right wing berth on a pass from Somerville into centre-field from where he scored with a daisy-cutter from 25 yards low down to Ure’s right. A great goal! Ure had better luck with a shot from Somerville, who was sweeping upfield on regular forays into the Elgin half. A free kick from Cowie was headed down by Lemmon to Williamson, whose shot was taken by the keeper. Ure’s timewasting was penalised shortly after this, but County failed to make anything of the resultant indirect free kick. The Elgin fans were delighted when the game ended, for their team had given them several anxious moments in the second half against unrelenting County pressure. Well done Ross County — a pity about the free gifts!