Date	Saturday, 26 September 1931
Competition	Scottish Qualifying Cup
Fixture/Score	Elgin City 1:2 Ross County
Venue	Borough Briggs
Referee
Ross County
Manager	John (Jock) Ramage
Starting 11	1: ? Scott, 2: Roddie Munro, 3: Ackie Urquhart, 4: Dick Traill, 5: John Ramage, 6: Roddie Garrow, 7: Ackie MacKay 1, 8: Dave Cowie, 9: Ian Aird, 10: ??? McIver, 11: Charlie Cameron 1
Bench
Attendance
Match Report	Report from the Ross-shire Journal. Elgin City 1 Ross County 2 Ross County's entry into the third round of the Scottish Qualifying Cup at the expense of the strong-going Elgin City was an achievement of which they have every reason to be proud. Elgin City are a power in Highland football, and very few people expected the County to beat them, and that on their own ground at Bishopmill. The game was a personal triumph for John Ramage. Once he had established a lead of two goals to one, he exerted all the wiles of defensive football known to the game, and managed to retain the slender lead right to the end. Often he was sorely taxed, but always he was there to break up the City attack, and in the closing stages, playing as a third back, his head was constantly robbing Elgin forwards of likely openings. Scott, too, took a prominent part in the victory. Balls from all angles found him cool, confident and capable, and especially was this the case in the closing seconds, when a tearing shot from Glass looked as if it were going all the way. The County goalkeeper, however, got up to it and held the ball above his head, to bring off a marvellous save amidst great excitement. The game opened with a nervous atmosphere pervading it. County defence were anything but steady, and from a mis-kick, Parle got the ball past Scott, who made a commendable effort to get at it, but the mis-kick had left him out of position. Elgin were always the more dangerous, and were constantly raiding the County defence. However, County got the equaliser. Cameron sent in a low shot, which Raitt cleared at full length, and before the goalkeeper could recover, Mackay banged it into the net. Quickly Elgin returned to the attack, and Glass placed a corner with perfection, which brought out the best in Scott, who was up to the ball and had it away before the City forwards realised the kick was taken. Still playing very scrappily, the County defence were getting invaluable assistance from both Cowie and MacIver, both of whom were having innumerable duels with Bert Maclachlan, out of which the old Aberdeen player did not always emerge top dog. Cowie had always the beating of him, while MacIver with great hardihood, mixed it with the Elgin pivot in no uncertain manner. Cowie was outstanding. Playing clever football, he tied up the Elgin defence, but the wing men were not getting the ball over, and consequently few chances came the way of Aird. A corner kick by Cameron looked hopeful, but Hendry cleared convincingly, while, at the other end, Patterson got past Urquhart but shot weakly, and Ramage dived at a ball with his head, which had the pot got at it was going all the way to the net. It was a magnificent effort on Ramage’s part, and showed the risks he was prepared to take to avert disaster. Parle was next to get through, but again the great Scott got down to it, and literally lifted the ball from off the centre's toe. The County raids, if few, were always dangerous, and in one of these, they took the lead, much against the run of the game. Cowie got the ball well in his own half. Beating Patterson and Neish, he signalled to Mackay to expect the ball. Drawing Maclachlan, the inside right hoodwinked the defence by transferring the ball to Cameron. Aird met the centre but Raitt came out and blocked the shot, and Cameron following up, planted the ball in the net through the legs of a defender. Fighting back, Elgin exerted all their power on the County defence, but Urquhart and Munro had struck true form, and did not let the City forwards settle to shoot. In the closing minutes of this half, Aird had the worst of luck to see one of his shots go narrowly past with Raitt beaten. At the outset of the second half, it was clearly evident that Ramage had mapped out a plan of campaign. County were the first to get dangerous, and when a foul kick was erroneously given against Mackay, Elgin needed the relief. Ramage was back in between Munro and Urquhart and working like one possessed. Trail and Garrow were also being run off their feet with work, but they never shirked their duty and the wonder is how these two hardy players got through the amount of work they did. Scott was constantly in action, while the game became monotonous with touches. Elgin hammered away but there was no yielding of the County defence, and, in a break through Aird was again out of luck with a marvellous header which struck the upright and rebounded into play. Elgin persistently pressed but their want of success seemed to take the heart out of them. The County’s occasional forages upfield were always dangerous, but their wing players could not get going, and Aird was policed closely. With Scott out of goal, Glass shot and Urquhart on the goal line threw himself at the ball, which just missed the upright: it looked as if Urquhart had diverted its course with his fist, but the referee let the game go on. As time wore on, the Elgin attack became more disjointed. They rearranged their forward line but to no purpose. Then came a corner which Glass placed to perfection, but here Scott’s wonderful clutch stood him in good stead, while as already mentioned, on the last seconds of time, he brought off the save of the game. The outstanding feature of Ross County play was the way they stood up to the gruelling they got. Every man was a full ninety minutes player, and Ramage is to be congratulated on building the team up to such a fit standard. Training takes place on two nights a week, which is little enough, but in that little time, the Ross County coach has made a wonderful improvement in the side's stamina and they now can be depended upon to stand up to the most trying game with the best of Highland League elevens. This is where they were sorely lacking last season. Another point to note is the way each man sticks to the coach’s instructions. On Saturday, at half-time, he set a definite plan of campaign, and none of the players deserted it.