Date	Saturday, 25 February 2006
Competition	Scottish League Division 1
Fixture/Score	Ross County 1:1 Stranraer
Venue	Victoria Park
Referee	Mike Ritchie
Ross County
Manager	Gardner Spiers
Starting 11	1: Stuart Garden, 2: Sean Webb, 3: Lionel Djebi-Zadi, 4: Neil McDonald, 5: James Lauchlan, 6: Don (JNR) Cowie, 7: Kevin McKinlay, 8: Mark McCulloch, 9: John Rankin, 10: Sean Higgins 1, 11: David Winters
Bench	0: Joseph Malin, 0: David Cowan, 0: Fergus Tiernan, 0: Gary McSwegan, 0: Craig Gunn
Stranraer
Manager	Neil Watt
Starting 11	Barry Corr, Craig Higgins, Alex Keddie, Andy Dowie, Murray Henderson, Bryan Gilfillan, David Hamilton 1, Stephen Aitken, Michael Moore, Stephen Payne, Lee Sharp
Bench	Leigh Hinds, Stephen Swift, John Maisano, Alan Morrison, Paul Walker
Attendance	1,975
Match Report	Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Ross County 1 Stranraer 1 Ross County failed to take full advantage of their game in hand over First Division leaders St Mirren when they were held to a draw by Stranraer at Victoria Park. The Dingwall side got off to a flier with a goal from Sean Higgins--his fourth in the last six games--but County failed to finish of their opponents and the Stair Park side got back on level terms with a rather fortunate equaliser from David Hamilton. The result leaves County five points behind St Mirren with nine games left. County caretaker manager Gardner Speirs admits his side was lucky not to lose. He said: "Of course it's a setback. We want to win every home game, no matter the opposition, but there was a sense of relief because of the way the game was going. "Stranraer can take a lot of credit for the way we played in this match--they closed us down at every opportunity and we never really got going. We were forced to hang in there a bit at the end." County started as though they were going to blow the Blues away, and the home side took the lead in the seventh minute. Kevin McKinlay's short corner was whipped into the box by Don Cowie and Higgins stooped in the six-yard box to nod the ball into the net. Cowie almost got on the scoresheet himself three minutes later when he was set up by Lionel Djebi-Zadi, but the midfielder's angled drive flew past the far post. Stranraer were restricted to long-range efforts, and Bryan Gilfillan and Michael Moore both tested County goalkeeper Stuart Garden from well outside the 18-yard box. County had another chance to extend their lead in the 27th minute when a Djebi-Zadi overhead kick fell kindly for Jim Lauchlan, but the County captain blasted wide from 12 yards. Stranraer looked a team transformed after the break and the equaliser came in the 70th minute when Hamilton's deflected shot wrongfooted Garden. The ball hit the inside of the goalkeeper's left-hand post and rolled tantalisingly over the line. It could have been worse for Dingwall side if Hamilton's header a couple of minutes later had gone in instead of hitting the bar.