Date	Wednesday, 09 December 1987
Competition	Highland League
Fixture/Score	Ross County 5:200 Nairn County
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: Alexander (Sandy) MacLeod, 6: Don Cowie (SNR), 7: Keith (Billy) Ferries, 8: Donald MacKay 1, 9: Gary Robertson, 10: Gordon Connelly 3, 11: James MacKay
Bench	0: Davie Jackson, 0: Martin MacKay
Attendance
Match Report	Report from the Ross-shire Journal. Ross County 5 Nairn County 0 On Wednesday of last week, over 200 fans left the warmth of their homes to make their way to Victoria Park on a cold, frosty night to watch the clinical disposal of luckless Nairn County, who had no answer for the swift-moving—almost surefooted—Ross County raiders, who methodically took them apart from the first whistle. The slight lifting of the frost over the previous twenty-four hours made the pitch playable, and its playability was enhanced by the attentions of groundsman George Barnetson. The surface was flat, there were no ruts, and something of a grip could be obtained—at least in the early stages of the match, but it became less “grippable” as the surface became polished with the movement over it and frost began to set in. However, Ross County believed in keeping the fans’ body heat flowing, and did so by producing immaculate football on a tricky surface, presenting them with five extremely well-taken goals—the best in a fast-flowing first half, when everything fell into place for the Ross side. Defenders were backing up the midfield, and the midfield, the strike-force. Everything was just right, with opponents floundering in the wake of a fleet-footed winger or an equally adept ball-player. It was all great stuff, but then an ill-timed tackle could wreak havoc on the night, and no one could have blamed the perpetrator because conditions had to be taken into consideration, very much so. Billy Ferries was in his element early on and had some scintillating runs until he was closed down for a period as he took some hard tackles. Gordon Connolly moved as freely as he ever did, no matter the surface or conditions; and Donald Mackay was very much involved in the scheme of things, until a combination of the conditions and a tackle put paid to his enterprise, and he was taken off in the first half with a groin injury—a wise decision, rather than risk aggravation of the hurt. It was all go for Ross County, and goals came early with Gordon Connolly striking the first five minutes after the start. Goalkeeper Wright could do little but push his strong drive into the net when he failed to clutch the ball cleanly. Seven minutes later, Donald Mackay made it two, following a combined move by Lemmon, Robertson, and Connolly, which left him with the simplest of shots as he slotted the ball into the top right-hand corner of the net. Those in direct line with the shot behind the Nairn goal had a spectacular view of this effort, as they had when Connolly scored his second goal in the 30th minute, a great 18-yard shot which raged into the rigging from a corner by Ferries. It was 3-0 at half-time, with the home side continuing to create many scoring chances, but failing to take advantage of them, and so it was at the opening of the second half, when Nairn began to assert themselves to a degree. However, James Mackay added to Ross’s tally in the 63rd minute, and with ten minutes left, Connolly broke from centre-field, and with the keeper stranded just outside the eighteen-yard line, as he rounded him, he back-heeled the ball into an empty net.