Date	Saturday, 17 September 1938
Competition	Highland League
Fixture/Score	Fraserburgh 0:1 Ross County
Venue	Bellslea Park
Referee
Ross County
Manager	George Barrie
Starting 11	1: Roy Applegate, 2: Adam Forsyth, 3: Roddie Munro, 4: A. MacDonald, 5: George Barrie, 6: J Wood, 7: J Gillies, 8: J.A MacKay, 9: Ernest Gowl 1, 10: Neil Gillies, 11: Tommy Urquhart
Bench
Attendance
Match Report	Report from the Ross-shire Journal. Fraserburgh 0 Ross County 1 Sitting in the stand among a cloud of Brochers at Fraserburgh on Saturday, it was most pleasant to find the rare impartiality of their criticisms. The general verdict on the first half of the game was that Ross County was "all over" Fraserburgh. It was the true verdict. Ross County have not put up such a good show at Victoria Park this season as they did at Bellslea Park on Saturday. Ross County had a very slight wind behind them; the pitch was a trifle soft and players kept their feet with difficulty at times. There was no scoring in the first half; there ought to have been. Twice within the first half hour, Gowl blamelessly missed; once with a characteristic header, again with a low grounder that just missed the left corner of the net. Again, later on, another cute shot by Mackay was worthy of being a winner, but was not. Each of these three misses could fairly be assigned to "hard luck." But other chances went abegging as they always will. I don't like this over-developed three-back game; neither do I approve of what is virtually four three-quarter back methods; inside men mixing it with their outside "halfs." It doesn't lead to goals. Repeatedly J. Gillies, Urquhart and Gowl got away when, to my way of thinking, their inside men were too far back to give support. Yet when a full front line came down on the Broch goal, where Noble, Broch's brilliant centre-half, was operating, not even he with the others could stay the rush. It was in these raids that "hard luck" intervened, and, truth to tell, it was from these fine combined efforts that the proverbial "sitters" were missed. (No names; no pack drills!) I liked the way Barrie set his field when one or two free kicks were awarded to the County for offences under these puzzling new rules. Barrie can place a free kick exactly where he wants it. I wondered if instead of selecting a player well-positioned, if a shot at goal would not have been more telling. His was an inconspicuous steadying influence throughout. Half-time: Fraserburgh 0, Ross County 0. Within five minutes of the re-start, during which Fraserburgh seemed to take control, keeping Applegate busy and troubling even Munro, so full of graft, a loose ball let away the three County forwards. They tricked the defence and Gowl scored a cunning goal. From this stage onward Fraserburgh had more of the play as Ross County had in the first half. Many anxious moments were passed by the defence. Applegate gripped, fisted, smothered and kicked searching shots one after another. He was fouled unfairly under the new rules when all seemed lost and this brought relief. Several times the County broke away, but reinforcement by the inside men was lacking, although once or twice the Broch goal was in serious jeopardy. The game ended with the pace still hot. A good win, the County carried no passengers. Gowl led the line well and the understanding between him and his wing men was complete. Quick interchange of positions puzzled the defence. Mackay played a storm of a game throughout and N. Gillies was as tireless as he was effective. Munro was on top gear and Forsyth made no mistake, often popping up when all was seemingly lost. Applegate reached the end of a perfect day with a clean sheet. Fraserburgh has had various team changes already this season, but there is a nucleus of stalwarts round which to build. At the close they were full of fight despite the interlude of warm weather.