Date	Saturday, 08 September 1945
Competition	North of Scotland League
Fixture/Score	Elgin City 7:2 Ross County
Venue	Borough Briggs
Referee
Ross County
Manager	The Management Committee
Starting 11	1: R Shearer, 2: Adam Forsyth, 3: ??? Else, 4: DD Forsyth, 5: ? Innes, 6: ??? Moray, 7: ? Bremner, 8: Charles (Chic) Ogilvie 1, 9: S MacLennan, 10: ??? Griffin 1 (1 pen), 11: ??? Connell
Bench
Attendance
Match Report	Report from the Northern Scot. Elgin City 7 Ross County 2 Elgin City collected their first two points by easily defeating Ross County in the North of Scotland League match at Borough Briggs on Saturday. City were the superior team for practically the whole game. Ross County improved slightly at the beginning and end of the second half but with Lowden, Kellas, Findlay and Glass on top form they could not make much impression. The County won the toss and elected to play with the sun in their backs. Elgin ran into the attack from the kickoff, but the ball was returned by A. Forsyth and Lowden brought off two first-class saves from dangerous outside right, Bremner. The Elgin defence were "caught on the hop" with this sudden attack and before they recovered Lowden had to hold a low hard drive from Griffin. Eventually the ball was cleared and Edwards had a try with a long lob. The Elgin forward line had not shown much punch up to this point and everyone, including the player, was surprised when Shanks sent in what was evidently meant for a cross, but which curled into the net at the far post, taking the keeper by surprise. Lowden once again came into the picture from the kick-off and showed excellent style in holding two "stingers" from Bremner. Once again the Elgin superiority reasserted itself. Play swung towards the County goalmouth and number two was narrowly averted when Sutherland mistimed the ball and let it trickle past him over the byeline with Findlay just out of reach. Soon after, some excellent co-operation by Edwards, Robertson and M'Cutcheon gave the last-named an opening and he sent a hard drive past Shearer's outstretched hands into the corner of the net. Elgin were now definitely on top and forcing the play. Finlay smacked the ball into Shearer's arms, Neish lobbed one into the goalmouth, and Robertson had a try from 40 yards but also failed. In one of their infrequent raids Ross County gave the crowd a thrill. Lowden dropped the ball in a scramble. It rolled out as far as the penalty spot. Ogilvie rushing down the centre hit hard and true towards the side of the net but Kellas was there to stop an almost certain counter at the expense of a fruitless corner. Finlay, always ready for an opening, chalked up number three in the twentieth minute, giving the keeper no chance with a smart shot. M'Cutcheon and Neish, who started off a little shakily on the right, had, after about half-an-hour's play, struck up a fine understanding and had to be watched. Five minutes before half-time Finlay had a brilliant solo run to bring his tally up to two and the City's to four. Both sides resumed with ten men. Innes, the County centre-half, and Edwards, City left-half, did not return for the second half, during which Elgin continued to have the better of the exchanges. Finlay nearly completed his hat-trick in the opening minutes when, after beating three men, he jabbed the ball towards the corner of the net. Shearer had two attempts at clearing before Neish drove wildly past. Kellas was caught napping when he decided to let a long ball go through to Lowden. Inside-right Ogilvie had other ideas and darted past the centre-half. As Lowden advanced, on seeing the danger, he whipped the ball into the net for a splendid goal. The County took heart from this and had Elgin had a less experienced goalie than Lowden the visitors might have improved their position. Lowden, however, dealt coolly with a bombardment of shots. A switch between Finlay and Shanks had early results for Elgin. Finlay collected from a long downfield punt by Kellas, and raced along the left wing, to initiate a smart movement which ended with M'Cutcheon shooting high into the net from an open position. One minute later M'Cutcheon completed his "hat-trick," going through to score while Ross defence claimed off-side. For the next ten minutes it was all Elgin. The two young Elgin players, Robertson and M'Cutcheon, showed up prominently and in the seventy-fifth minute the latter again took the limelight with his fourth goal and Elgin's seventh. Ross County again appealed for off-side, but the referee wasn't having any, although many spectators thought M'Cutcheon had been "poaching." A foul by Kellas on Connell resulted in a penalty for Ross, which inside-left Griffin drove low and hard into the left-hand corner. Lowden gave his best performance in goal to date. Findlay and Glass were excellent backs, and the half-back line was sound. Of the forwards M'Cutcheon, Robertson and Finlay were best. M'Cutcheon proved himself far more valuable in the inside position than on the wing. He can certainly take his chances. Robertson's dribbling and passing showed great promise. Of the Ross County players A. Forsyth and Klse played well, but the whole defence had a little too much to handle. The forwards looked as if they could be dangerous but got little rope.