| Date | Saturday, 20 November 1999 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 2 |
| Fixture/Score | Arbroath 0:1 Ross County |
| Venue | Gayfield Park |
| Attendance | 912 |
| Referee | Eric Martindale |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the Daily Record. Arbroath 0 Ross County 1 Derek Holmes ignored the pain of a hamstring injury to knock Arbroath off the top of Division Two and put Ross County's promotion bid back on track. Neale Cooper's outfit are now just three points behind new leaders Clyde thanks to a superb second-half winner by the former Hearts hitman. Holmes tormented the Arbroath defence and was denied a hat-trick by a combination of bad luck and bad finishing. But the striker remained strictly upbeat about his performance--especially after he'd feared he wouldn't play at all following his hamstring pull against Stirling Albion last week. Holmes said : "I didn't train until Thursday and the boss asked me on Friday how I was Feeling. I told him I was okay to play. "It was tough out there but I got through the 90 minutes and I am very pleased. "I am delighted with the win and that's three goals in five games I've scored now. "The move to Ross County has been good for me. "They are a brilliant club and I am loving every minute of it. Long may it continue." Holmes is a real handful to Second Division defences when he is in the mood and his winning goal underlined his talent. Strike partner George Shaw's shot from the edge of the box was superbly parried by home keeper Craig Hinchcliffe but Holmes followed up to drill home. The former Jambo kid then blew a glorious chance to kill the game 20 minutes from time when he missed an open goal from three yards out. He was man enough to admit his effort was a real howler and said: "You are expected to score from that distance. "But George Shaw told me you start worrying when the chances don't come your way. That's definitely true." County have serious ambitions about reaching the First Division this year and on this display they have certainly got the players. Cooper believes they will reach their goal if they continue to handle the pressure in the right way. He was delighted to bounce back, especially after losing last week to Stirling and he said: "There was a lot of pressure on us after the last couple of games. "We performed very well and got our just rewards. "Everyone worked hard. Brian Irvine has been out recently but he came back and was just immense." Arbroath weren't really at the races and the defeat leaves them struggling to remain top spot. But boss Dave Baikie is confident his side have the spirit to bounce back. He said: I am disappointed but in the last half-hour we were a lot hungrier and created a few chances. "If we get to mid-March and are still in the melting pot, in third of fourth place, then I will be happy." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Neale Cooper |
| Starting 11 | 1: Joseph (Nicky) Walker, 2: Ian Maxwell, 3: Mark Duthie, 4: Paul Kinnaird 1, 5: Kenneth Gilbert 1, 6: Steven Ferguson 1, 7: Roy McBain 1, 8: Steven MacKay, 9: John Fraser, 10: George Shaw, 11: Derek Holmes 1 |
| Bench | 0: Martin Canning, 0: Connor Campbell, 0: David Ross |
| Arbroath | |
| Manager | Dave Baikie |
| Starting 11 | Craig Hinchcliffe, Jon Crawford, John McAulay 1, Barry Sellars, Steve Florence, Scott Peters, Jim Mercer, John Gallagher, David Arbuckle 1, Tommy Bryce, Colin McGlashan |
| Bench | Brian Mitchell, Jim Thomson, Chris Devine |