Date	Saturday, 05 March 1988
Competition	North of Scotland Cup
Fixture/Score	Lossiemouth 0:3 Ross County
Venue	Grant Park
Referee	Hines
Ross County
Manager	Robert (Bobby) Wilson
Starting 11	1: John Sutter, 2: Christopher (Chris) Somerville, 3: Alan Gair, 4: Cameron Robertson, 5: Scott Lemmon, 6: Don Cowie (SNR), 7: Keith (Billy) Ferries, 8: Donald MacKay 2, 9: Davie Jackson, 10: Gordon Connelly 1, 11: James MacKay
Bench	0: Gary Robertson, 0: Albert Allan
Attendance
Match Report	Report from the Ross-shire Journal. Lossiemouth 0 Ross County 3 Ross County had a very large following with them on Saturday at Lossiemouth where, despite wintry conditions, the home club had cleared the pitch for the MacEwan’s Lager North of Scotland Cup semi-final tie. It was one of three games that survived. Lossiemouth had qualified for North Cup finals over the previous two seasons, but on this occasion, Ross County were not prepared to stand on ceremony. As a result of the previous week’s injury to Dave Bellshaw, the defence was shuffled, and Alan Gair was brought in at left-back with Scott Lemmon moving into centre-half. There was no hassle, and after the previous week’s “hiccough” against Peterhead, County were determined that victory and a cup final place would be theirs. Their performance was of early-to-mid-season vintage and after a period in which they acclimatised to the ground and weather conditions, and assessed their opponents’ potential, the boys settled down to their task and were never seriously worried. They won by three clear goals, but as one fan remarked, the final tally could have been on a par with that at Inverness, where their cup-final opponents, Inverness Thistle, accounted for Clach by seven goals to nil. The final at Telford Street Park, Inverness, on Saturday, 26th March should prove an interesting tussle, with County fans hoping that at last their favourites will win after so many past disappointments. No reason why not—this season! However, the County camp is a bit concerned about an injury to their leading goalscorer, Dave Jackson, and are hoping it will have cleared up by cup final day. Late in the first half, Dave attempted a hitch-kick after Billy Ferries had driven in a low cross and as he twisted in mid-air to reach the ball, a Lossie defender block-tackled him, and he fell to the ground. At the time it was thought he had broken his leg but within minutes it was clear that this was not so, although there was something seriously wrong with his knee, which was badly swollen. It is suspected he has damaged ligaments. At the moment it does not look as though he will make the final, but it will certainly not be for the want of trying. Throughout the match, Ross County played extremely well. Lossiemouth, after falling one goal behind, had chances in the second half, but the County defence kept a clean sheet. County went into the lead in the 17th minute, after some superb play by Donald Mackay, who passed the ball out to Billy Ferries and was on hand to take a return pass with ease and slot it home. Donald scored a second goal in the 66th minute, netting from ten yards. Five minutes from time, Gordon Connelly, who was judged the Man of the Match, completed the scoring. In a match, which was well handled by referee Hines, Inverness, and was fiercely competitive, it is of note that there were no bookings. It is of equal note that for the third week in succession, Ross County were involved in a game in which a referee had no recourse to “showing a card”; a simple admonition sufficed. The games in all three instances flowed smoothly and entertainingly throughout. John Suttar was on top form, despite an injury, which one hopes has yielded to treatment.