Date	Saturday, 15 January 1949
Competition	Highland League
Fixture/Score	Elgin City 3:2 Ross County
Venue	Borough Briggs
Referee	Mr. MacSloy
Ross County
Manager	The Management Committee
Starting 11	1: Fred Newton, 2: Jimmy Farmer, 3: Fred Nimmo, 4: Finlay Browning, 5: John Patience, 6: George Sutherland, 7: Barney Smith, 8: Jocky (SNR) Clark 1, 9: Charles (Chic) Ogilvie, 10: Alick Ferguson, 11: John (Johnny) Bremner 1
Bench
Attendance	3,000
Match Report	Report from the Ross-shire Journal. Elgin City 3 Ross County 2 Another two points were dropped by Ross County, when they visited Boroughbriggs, on Saturday, and lost by the odd goal in five, after a fast, exciting game. Two of the players were making their debut, on the home side, Stewart, the recent acquisition from Forres, whilst County had Barney Smith, from Helmsdale, on their right wing. The pitch had received its full share of rain during the week, but it was liberally sanded and the turf was of a holding nature. Referee MacSloy created a surprise by stating that Elgin need not change their jerseys, so that when the teams took the field, the crowd, which was in the region of 6000, saw twenty striped shirts, black and white and blue and white. Armstrong forecast the fall of the coin correctly, and Ogilvie started the game and an electrifying attack—Ogilvie to Ferguson and a head-high pass to Smith, who nodded first-time into the centre to force a corner, which he took himself and placed directly on to Ogilvie's head. A backward flick and Bremner, anticipating the move, rushed in to beat Munro all ends up. Time 45 seconds. From the restart Elgin made ground on the left, and a Davies cross went past the County goal with no one there to take advantage. Back came the ball from the left and Armstrong was steadying himself for a shot when Stewart, over anxious, took the ball from his captain's foot. Elgin kept up the pressure and a Logie centre looked dangerous when Sutherland mis-kicked, but Nimmo nipped in to clear the danger. After nine minutes, County went further ahead. Sutherland took a free-kick on the County left, lobbed to Ferguson, who in turn flicked the ball to Clark, and the inside man's shot flashed wide of Munro's right hand. The City made fresh efforts to reduce the leeway, but found the road to goal blocked by a resolute County defence. Davies, on his return to the side, must have left his shooting boots behind, as after missing several chances, he worked his way through only to fire yards over the bar. After 31 minutes, the City's perseverance was rewarded when Davies was brought down in the box and Armstrong made no mistake from the spot. This spurred on the home side and a concerted attack ended when Armstrong missed an open goal from a Davies centre, then the inside man himself drove wide when well placed. A minute from the interval another penalty went Elgin's way when Patience up-ended Davies as he was running through, and again Armstrong netted. The City started, after the interval, with a grand movement which resulted in a fast Armstrong drive. Newton allowed the ball to spin out of his hands, but recovered to dive backwards and prevent it from crossing the line. Then thrills at the other end. Ogilvie rounded Wyllie and passed to Bremner, whose angular drive was deflected by Mrowonski. From the placing of the corner, Sutherland headed goalward, but Munro saved at full length. MacLachlan was injured in a tussle with Smith but soon recovered. Wyllie was finding Ogilvie a rare handful and the centre forward again beat him and combined well with Clark before pushing the ball forward to Bremner, who, however, had spoiled the move by running offside. Brilliant combined play brought cheers from the Elgin crowd. Fearn received from Mathers near the half-way line, slipped to Stewart, who at once parted to Davies and so to Logie, who fired in a low shot, which beat Newton near the post and entered the net. The County goal had another stroke of luck when Newton came out, but Armstrong got his foot to the ball and spooned it over the yawning goal. The game was being fought at a furious pace and pressure on the City goal resulted in Bremner shooting over from his corner of the penalty-box and Clark doing the same from the opposite side. Stewart was prominent in two Elgin raids, first, when he saw a grand drive sailing wide, and then when his header was only just tipped over the bar by Newton. Ross-shire hopes were raised when Ogilvie again eluded Wyllie and passed out to the left, but Bremner's first-time drive crashed into the side-netting. On the balance of play, Elgin just deserved their narrow victory, but County's raids always looked dangerous, and the spectators certainly had their money's worth in the display served up by both sides. MacAulay was the strong man in the Elgin side, whilst Ogilvie had a more successful day against Wyllie than did his counterpart against Patience. Clean cut and quick tackling, coupled with judicious parting with the ball, made young Nimmo the best defender afield. Rarely can Fearn have had so lean a day.