Date	Wednesday, 29 March 1989
Competition	Highland League
Fixture/Score	Ross County 1:5 Forres Mechanics
Venue	Victoria Park
Referee
Ross County
Manager	Robert (Bobby) Wilson
Starting 11	1: John Sutter, 2: Christopher (Chris) Somerville, 3: Alan Brown, 4: Cameron Robertson, 5: Dave Bellshaw, 6: Don Cowie (SNR), 7: Keith (Billy) Ferries, 8: Alex (Nero) McDonald, 9: Davie Jackson, 10: Gordon Connelly, 11: Gary Campbell
Bench	0: Barry Wilson 1, 0: David MacRae
Attendance
Match Report	Report from the Ross-shire Journal. Ross County 1 Forres Mechanics 5 One might well look askance at the result as far as Ross County was concerned. Before the match on Wednesday last week, Ross County had the slimmest of chances of winning the League Championship, provided victories could have been achieved in all their remaining fixtures. However, absences from the regular line-up, returns after injury, and the decided look of a team lacking practice and, more particularly, basic fitness, brought a performance from Ross County which disappointed their most loyal of fans. This was not the same team that, weeks ago, on a pitch of similar nature — heavy, gluey, and cloying — ran the feet off potential champions Huntly, who had been lucky to get away with a draw on that occasion. On Wednesday, the fitness of Forres stood out as they stamped their authority on the game from the opening minutes, moving smoothly and purposefully on the heavy pitch, simply taking their opponents apart, brushing aside challenges, committing themselves to all-out attack, and finding their men with accurate passes — no short, weak passes for them, but sure and deadly to a colleague who had helped out by making a position for himself. On their Huntly form, Ross County could have earned three points from this game. This feckless effort was just not them! The various postponements of games in recent weeks no doubt contributed considerably to County’s loss of form, but there was an underlying feeling amongst supporters that these players were showing none of the fitness and running associated with them all season. In this respect, the pitch was a great leveller, and in all departments — fitness, ability, and positioning — Forres scored. With the absence of key players, County had to re-cast their line-up, but even so, at the back of everyone’s mind, there was the doubt about fitness and preparedness. Forres took the lead in the ninth minute. Suttar had a free kick from Iain Grant in his grasp as he dived to his left to take it, but the ball slipped from his grip, and as he turned to retrieve it, two Forres players were on to it in a flash, with Dunbar turning it into the net. Mind you, Suttar had no cover at the far post. Forres had control in midfield and used it to good effect, pushing dangerous balls into the County area as regular as clockwork. Forbes hit one ball down the middle and with two defenders converging on him, Minty raced away from them, and as his opponents were losing touch, and Suttar was off his line, he simply lobbed the ball into the net from the edge of the box. Fyvie scored the third goal in the 32nd minute, with a header. On pressure and chances, Forres should have been considerably further ahead at halftime, but were denied by Suttar or a lack of direction on their part. David Macrae and Barry Wilson came on for David Bellshaw and Cammie Robertson in the second half, and for a period County looked set to stage a revival. However, there came a further set-back, when Suttar pushed a strong drive on to the crossbar, and it rebounded to Grant, who cracked it home. Then came the final blow. A clearance from the defence was taken by Davidson, who volleyed the ball home from 25 yards. In the closing minutes, Barry Wilson scored County’s consolation goal.