| Date | Saturday, 16 September 2000 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0:1 Ross County |
| Venue | Caledonian Stadium |
| Attendance | 4,823 |
| Referee | John Rowbotham |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Mike Tremlett for the Press & Journal. Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0 Ross County 1 Revenge must have tasted sweet in the Ross County dressing-room at Caledonian Stadium on Saturday after a three-season wait to wipe out the memory of four-game whitewash by Caley Thistle the last time the North firm occupied the same division. The Inverness side scored 11 goals to County's one, handling the then newly-appointed Neale Cooper a hot welcome to Scottish League football Highland-style, and going into this contest had never lost to their Dingwall rivals at Caledonian Stadium. Caley's record would probably still be intact but for keeper Nicky Walker's inspired form behind a defence ready to die for the cause and a goalpost which should be re-painted County's own shade of blue after acting like an extra defender on two occasions. If Caley Jags manager Steve Paterson needed an excuse for this defeat by a County side reduced to 10-men when Eddie Cunnington departed for a second bookable offence late in the second half. Striker Iain Stewart saw a goal-bound header come back off the bar above Walker's head on the half-hour and by then the County keeper had already pulled out top-drawer saves to keep out superb efforts from Davide Xausa twice and Paul Sheerin. County's best efforts had come from the head of defender Ian Maxwell, who twice got on the end of corners to nod powerfully over the Caley Jags bar. Ten minutes after the break, with veteran wide man Paul Kinnaird on for Struggling striker Derek Holmes, County got the pay-off for their first-half defensive heroics when Caley Jags keeper Jim Calder spilled a John Fraser header and hooked away Darren Henderson's foot as he threatened to knock in the rebound. Referee John Rowbotham pointed to the spot and Alex Bone stepped up to send the keeper the wrong way. Twice in a minute going into the last quarter of the match, County were saved by the same post which stopped headers from Barry Robson and Ross Tokely flying past Walker. County survived Eddie Cunnington's departure in the 78th minute, his second yellow--one of 10 flashed by John Rowbotham--coming for a late lunge at Xausa. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Neale Cooper |
| Starting 11 | 1: Joseph (Nicky) Walker, 2: Edward Cunnington 2 1, 3: Ian Maxwell 1, 4: David MacKay, 5: Kenneth Gilbert, 6: Steven Ferguson 1, 7: Mark Millar, 8: Darren Henderson 1, 9: John Fraser, 10: Derek Holmes, 11: Alexander Bone 1 (1 pen) 1 |
| Bench | 0: Stefan Gonet, 0: Brian Irvine, 0: Paul Kinnaird, 0: Franck Escalon, 0: John McQuade |
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | |
| Manager | Steve Paterson |
| Starting 11 | Jim Calder, Michael Teasdale 1, Ross Tokely 1, Stuart McCaffrey, Grant Munro, Barry Robson, Paul Sheerin, Roy McBain, Charlie Christie, Iain Stewart 1, Davide Xausa |
| Bench | Les Fridge, Kevin Byers, David Bagan, Martin Bavidge, Dennis Wyness |