Date	Saturday, 15 December 1945
Competition	Stuart Cup
Fixture/Score	Ross County 1:5 Caledonian FC
Venue	Victoria Park
Referee
Ross County
Manager	The Management Committee
Starting 11
Bench
Attendance
Match Report	Report from the Ross-shire Journal. Ross County 1 Caledonian 5 This first of the home and home games in the first round of the Stuart Cup competition, which has headquarters at Nairn, was played at Dingwall on Saturday, on a soft pitch and with a very greasy ball. Caledonian won just as easily as the score indicates. Ross County defenders had no understanding and the half-backs were so busy in defence that they had little or no time to assist the forward line, which, however, lacked much in enterprise. The County tried two new players, Olsen, at left back, and Macdonald at outside left. Neither was a success; they lack experience and are too young, happily both faults that time will cure. The play at the outset was of the give and take order, and ten minutes had passed before the scoring began. The visitors were successful, Ian Macdonald registering in a scrimmage in the goalmouth. Then Griffen brought his team level with a shot from 25 yards, which completely beat Japp. Robertson gave his team the lead again and this was followed by a goal for the County, which was disallowed. Ross County attacked strongly, and centre-forward Macdonald sent in a strong shot which crashed against a post. The ball was deflected to R. Macdonald, who promptly netted. The referee pointed to the centre and proceeded in that direction. Suddenly a flag was seen waving in a far off corner of the field. This turned out to be a linesman. The referee walked over to him and after consultation changed his decision and awarded a free kick for offside. The incident was not popular with the spectators. There was no further scoring in this half. On the resumption, right from the kick off, Caledonian attacked and Shand increased the lead to three. This seemed to take the heart out of the home team, and after goals by Ian and Macdonald and Black, they retired a well-defeated team by five goals to one, a stiff hurdle to cross when the return game is played at Inverness. Apart from the disputed goal, Caledonian deserved to win, although many feel that if Ross County had got that second goal, it might have given them some encouragement. Griffen was the only man in the County who justified his reputation. Thorpe, in goal, could not be blamed for any of the goals against him; he stopped many possible scoring shots, including a penalty kick.