Date	Saturday, 07 August 1999
Competition	Scottish League Division 2
Fixture/Score	Ross County 2:1 Hamilton Academical
Venue	Victoria Park
Attendance	2,312
Referee	Ian Elmslie
Comments	Match Report Report by Alasdair Fraser for the Scotsman. Ross County 2 Hamilton Academical 1 Colin Miller looked almost dreamy-eyed as he pondered what a Brian Irvine-type figure might add to his young, but promising Hamilton side. It was an unexpectedly gentle reverie from such a hardened campaigner as Miller. Accies' Canadian international player-manager opined that County's new signing from Dundee had proved the only difference between teams divided by two divisions last season. This meeting of Accies and County offered a strange juxtaposition. The former are homeless--and nigh on penniless--yet hopeful of returning to the First Division at the first attempt. The latter have just emerged from the mire of the Third Division, yet have a First Division quality ground and have been splashing out the sort of wages and signing fees that Miller can only dream of. Irvine, one product of such profligacy, snatched the winner on County's Second Division debut but and his influential role on proceedings was not lost on Miller. He said: "I thought Brian Irvine was awesome. He was the only difference between the teams. "Brian is an old warhorse, and he and I have clashed on the field many, many times, and at all different levels in Scottish football. "After I'd come off and made a few changes, we finished the game with eight players under 20 and I think that demonstrates the potential here. A big crowd of 2,312--more than double last week's attendance--turned out to see County's championship flag unfurled. It then took only two minutes for John McGlashan to fire in the opening goal and raise the roof at Victoria Park. Roy McBain's cross from the left eventually broke to McGlashan and he moved like lightning to slice an eight-yard shot into the roof of the net. Accies looked more and more dangerous as the march progressed and they deservedly equalised in 67 minutes. A long through-ball beat the County defence and substitute Steve McCormick--making his 100th appearance-- was an inch quicker than keeper Nicky Walker and flicked the ball over his head into the empty net. County's sizeable investment in Irvine is already paying off, however, and he notched up his second headed goal in as many games in 78 minutes from a McBain corner. For County manager Neale Cooper, victory brought talk of his side being championship favourites. However, he laughed off a tag that came back to haunt him several times in the Third Division, stressing: "We are the new boys in the division and I don't go along with talk of us being favourites. "In the past we have got down in the dumps after losing a goal, but we always looked capable of coming back and winning the game.
Ross County
Manager	Neale Cooper
Starting 11	1: Joseph (Nicky) Walker, 2: Ian Maxwell, 3: Brian Irvine 1, 4: John McGlashan 1, 5: Franck Escalon 1, 6: Roy McBain, 7: Paul Kinnaird, 8: Kenneth Gilbert, 9: Kevin Finlayson, 10: Michael Geraghty, 11: George Shaw
Bench	0: Martin Canning, 0: John Fraser, 0: Garry Wood
Hamilton Academical
Manager	Colin Miller
Starting 11	Chris Reid, Eddie Cunnington 1, Ross MacLaren, Michael Martin 1, Colin Miller, Stevie Thompson, Dean Muir, Nicky Henderson, Michael Moore, William Davidson, David McFarlane
Bench	Paul Gaughan, Steven McCormick 1, Allan Russell