Date	Saturday, 20 August 1949
Competition	Highland League Cup
Fixture/Score	Ross County 1:1 Inverness Thistle
Venue	Victoria Park
Referee	Mr A. Mann
Ross County
Manager	The Management Committee
Starting 11	1: Fred Newton, 2: Willie (Billy) Urquhart, 3: Fred Nimmo, 4: Finlay Browning, 5: Jimmy Farmer, 6: George Sutherland, 7: Charles (Chic) Ogilvie, 8: Tommy Rooney, 9: John Patience 1, 10: Alick Ferguson, 11: Tommy Urquhart
Bench
Attendance	5,000
Match Report	Report from the Inverness Courier. Ross County 1 Inverness Thistle 1 The first of the Thistle-Ross County games in the second round of the Highland League Cup competition, watched at Kingsmills Park, Inverness, on Saturday by a crowd of nearly 5000, was rather disappointing. It could have been a much more interesting encounter than it turned out to be. It began well with fast, keen play and early goals, but the standard declined later and by the time the final whistle blew most people were glad that a game notable for the poverty of its forward play was over. Yet both teams have good material among the players, and they should have been able to put up a cleverer exhibition. Ross County, the older and more experienced side, should have won the match in the last quarter of an hour when they dominated the game and bombarded the Thistle goal. But the forwards' shooting was shockingly weak, disappointing. At times they played grand football, but too often their tactics were bad. On more than one occasion the halves and forwards indulged in timewasting short passing, generally manoeuvring it instead of taking the direct route to goal as they did in the early stages. Had Thistle varied their tactics the result might well have been different. However, Thistle have a team which is a nice blend of youth and experience, and it goes to Dingwall tomorrow night for the second game determined to do well. Both goals were scored on Saturday in the first ten minutes. A throw-in on Thistle's right wing near the corner flag was turned goalwards. Wright headed the ball to Bartlett who smartly sent it past Newton low into the net. That was seven minutes after the start, and Ross County's equaliser followed three minutes later. Macdonald was beaten by Ogilvie on the Ross-shire right wing, and the ball was sent over for Patience to jump up and head it past Mackintosh—a clever, opportunist type of goal. There were high hopes that a great game would develop but somehow the players on both sides failed to provide it. Ross County have a strong workmanlike but not unbeatable team. Urquhart and Nimmo were resolute backs, Farmer and the other halves were generally steady, and Patience and Ferguson the best of an indifferent forward line. Thistle, although there are some obvious weaknesses, have a promising side. In goal and at half-back, where Mackinnon, Sievwright and Macaulay were always resourceful, Thistle were excellently served, but, after Bartlett was injured in the second half, the forward play lost its sparkle and faded out altogether.