Ross County Database

DateSaturday, 08 April 2000
CompetitionScottish League Division 2
Fixture/ScoreRoss County 1:3 Partick Thistle
VenueVictoria Park
Attendance3,511
RefereeDavid Somers
CommentsMatch Report
Report from the Press & Journal.
Ross County 1 Partick Thistle 3
John Lambie wound up his squad of Partick Thistle veterans to keep the Division 2 promotion battle alive on Saturday, but Ross County and Alloa are still favourites to join Clyde, who are already up, in Division1 next season.
Thistle recorded a convincing 3-1 victory against a surprisingly out-of-sorts Dingwall outfit at Victoria Park. However, even if the Jags win all of their remaining games. County need just six points from four games to clinch promotion.
County manager Neale cooper said: "john Lambie's trademark is in winding up his players, al-through we contributed to our own downfall by being second to every second ball all over the pitch.
"I've seen this scenario so often when teams come with nothing to lose. We didn't have the bottle we needed on the day. Thistle still have a slim chance of getting promotion and to go for it and that's just what they did.
Striker Martin Hardie gave the Jags a 27th-minute lead with a perfectly placed volley.
Derek McWilliams strolled through the middle of the County defence and lashed the ball past Hamilton to double Thistle's advantage. The third came in the 73rd minute. Hardie got his second, heading home Albert Craig's pin-point cross.
Brian Irvine snatched a consolation for County six minutes from time, volleying through a ruck of players from 10 yards.
Ross County
ManagerNeale Cooper
Starting 111: Garry Hamilton, 2: Ian Maxwell, 3: Brian Irvine 1, 4: Craig Taggart, 5: Derek Ferguson, 6: John McGlashan, 7: Steven MacKay, 8: Mark Duthie, 9: Paul Kinnaird, 10: Derek Holmes, 11: George Shaw
Bench0: John Fraser, 0: Michael Geraghty, 0: Alexander Bone
Partick Thistle
ManagerJohn Lambie
Starting 11Kevin Budinauckas, Brian Martin, Des McKeown, Danny Lennon, Dave Rogers, Alan Archibald, Russell Huggon, Albert Craig, Robert Dunn, Martin Hardie 2, Derek McWilliams 1
BenchPaul McIntyre, Quinton Jacobs, Derek Lyle