| Date | Wednesday, 26 July 2000 |
|---|---|
| Competition | FRIENDLY |
| Fixture/Score | Buckie Thistle 1:2 Ross County |
| Venue | Victoria Park, Buckie |
| Attendance | 200 |
| Referee | S. Jolly |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Buckie Thistle 1 Ross County 2 Ross County overcame the challenge of Press and Journal Highland League side Buckie Thistle thanks to two goals in a four minute spell midway through the first period. In an entertaining encounter, the home players matched their Scottish League visitors for long spell of the game, missing a penalty before netting a late counter. David Ross saw two early headers go wide before County had to rely on goalkeeper Gary Hamilton to pull off a point-blank save to deny Steve Bruce the opener for Buckie. The deadlock was broken after 22 minutes when Ross picked out Dave McKay in the box and from 14 yards his right foot shot flew high beyond the helpless Michael Rae. Four minutes later, County doubled their advantage when Frank Escalon's long, flighted pass released Scott Miller and the youngster produced a fine finish with the outside of his right foot to curl the ball beyond Rae and into the far corner. Buckie hit the woodwork through a shot from substitute Kevin Thom on the restart before Rae produced a stunning save to keep out a Steve Edwards' header from six yards. Craig Stewart was bundled over in the box after 71 minutes but Lamberton's spot kick was saved by Hamilton with Gordon Duncan blasting the rebound over the bar. The home side was worthy of a goal and, with two minutes remaining, Stewart curled a terrifig 20-yard shot beyond Hamilton. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Neale Cooper |
| Starting 11 | 1: Garry Hamilton, 2: ? Witkowski, 3: Steven MacKay, 4: David MacKay 1, 5: Martin Canning, 6: S Edwards, 7: David Ross, 8: Franck Escalon, 9: Darren Henderson, 10: Scott Millar 1, 11: Paul Kinnaird |
| Bench | 0: Douglas Blackley, 0: Garry Ewing, 0: Bryan Dlugonski |
| Buckie Thistle | |
| Manager | |
| Starting 11 | Rae, Davidson, Lamberton, Anderson, McPherson, Rattray, Duncan, Milne, Stewart 1, Bruce, Craik |
| Bench | Thom, Matheson, Hulse, Low |