Date	Saturday, 18 March 1989
Competition	Highland League
Fixture/Score	Ross County 2:1 Lossiemouth
Venue	Victoria Park
Referee
Ross County
Manager	Robert (Bobby) Wilson
Starting 11	1: John Sutter, 2: Christopher (Chris) Somerville, 3: Scott Lemmon, 4: Cameron Robertson, 5: Alan Brown, 6: Don Cowie (SNR), 7: Keith (Billy) Ferries, 8: Donald MacKay 2, 9: Alex (Nero) McDonald, 10: Gordon Connelly, 11: Albert Allan
Bench	0: Davie Jackson, 0: David MacRae
Attendance
Match Report	Report from the Ross-shire Journal. Ross County 2 Lossiemouth 1 AFTER going down 0-1 to Elgin City on Wednesday evening, Ross County seemed to be coming back with a bang when they went two goals up within 12 minutes against Lossiemouth at Victoria Park, Dingwall, on Saturday. However, those were the only goals they secured in what was a hard struggle on a surface that looked firm at the start but soon cut up and became a veritable quagmire down the middle. County, with the advantage of a strong westerly wind in the first half, capitalized on it, but could have made much more of the chances offered when the Lossie offside trap was not catching them out. At half-time, one of the Lossie officials was heard to remark that the wind was the deciding factor in the first half, and he was sure the visitors would benefit in the second period—and they did. County gained some satisfaction from the result and sweet revenge for their recent second-round defeat in the North of Scotland Cup at Lossiemouth. Another great fillip to local morale was the return of Donald Mackay to the team. Donald had played a great part in last season’s success but had decided to take “early retirement.” Second thoughts at the turn of the year led to his comeback, and he certainly justified his selection with a couple of well-taken goals. Albert Allan sustained a hamstring injury while stretching into a tackle late in the game, and he was carried off in considerable agony. Albert has been making quite an impact since his return last season after a long lay-off recovering from a leg operation. Haste ye back! County went into an early lead in the eighth minute when Allan took the ball down the left wing and fired over a far-post shot, which was brilliantly headed home by Donald Mackay. Four minutes later, Don Cowie sent Billy Ferries away on the right wing, and he swung the ball over from the by-line. Mackay controlled it well and then eased himself into a better position before firing home a well-placed shot, which keeper Buchan, brilliant as he was to prove, could not save. The County defence was coping quite well with the quick, controlled Lossie breaks; John Suttar punched a cross away from the head of a striker and then dived quickly to smother another shot. A corner by Ferries on the left was headed fractionally past the wrong side of the upright by full-back Scott Lemmon. Then Albert Allan cracked a Chris Somerville cross point-blank at the keeper, who safely held the ball. In the second half, Lossie were more dangerous, and a shot from Norman Kellas cracked off the County crossbar. Gordon Connelly, who was put in possession by Macdonald, could only weakly clip the ball into the safe hands of the keeper, who later made a brilliant diving save from the same player. Lemmon had the ball in the net from a Mackay cross, but the linesman had signalled “offside.” With two minutes remaining, Somerville missed a challenge on substitute MacKintosh, who cut in on goal, avoided another tackle, and turned the ball past Suttar. Given more time, Lossie might have snatched the equaliser, but their efforts were being quickly countered. On pressure, County deserved their three points.