| Date | Saturday, 07 January 2006 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish Cup |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 5:0 Forfar Athletic |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Referee | Mike Ritchie |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Gardner Spiers |
| Starting 11 | 1: Stuart Garden, 2: Martin Canning, 3: Lionel Djebi-Zadi, 4: David Cowan, 5: James Lauchlan, 6: Don (JNR) Cowie 2, 7: John Rankin, 8: Mark McCulloch, 9: Kevin McKinlay 1, 10: Sean Higgins 1, 12: Alexander Burke 1 |
| Bench | 0: Joseph Malin, 0: Sean Webb, 0: Fergus Tiernan, 0: David Winters, 0: Craig Gunn |
| Forfar Athletic | |
| Manager | Ray Farningham |
| Starting 11 | Francois Dubourdeau, Eddie Forrest, David McClune, David Lowing, David King, Alan Rattray, Barry Sellars, Paul Lunan, Barry Donald, Martin Cameron, Darren Gribben 1 |
| Bench | Sean Murdoch, Steven Bonar, Ricky Waddell, David Dunn, Charles Connolly |
| Attendance | 1,151 |
| Match Report | Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Ross County 5 Forfar Athletic 0 A Don Cowie double at the start of the second half secured Ross County's passage into the fourth round of the Scottish Cup and a tie against Falkirk at the expense of Forfar at Victoria Park. This tie county have been a potential banana skin for County but once they got their noses in front with an Alex Burke goal there was no way back for the Second Division side. County's caretaker manager Gardner Speirs was delighted with the display. He said: "The quick goals early in the second half killed the game, and we played some nice football after that. "They started the game well and had us under a bit of pressure, but then we got to grips with the game and started to test their defence. "At the start of the game the aim was to get into the next round of the cup, but to do it in this manner was very pleasing." County only made one chance from the side that beat Brechin City 2-0 with Martin Canning returning to the heart of the defence after being side lined for more than a month. Sean Webb had to settle for a place on the bench. Forfar had the better of the early exchanges and Darren Gribben was twice through on goal before being denied by last-gasp tackles from Canning and Jim Lauchlan. But it was County who took the lead in the 11th minute. A Lionel Djebi-Zadi throw-in from the left was touched on by McKinlay and Burke swirled in the box to send a low shot past Forfar keeper Francois Dubourdeau. The County goal got a scare in the 22nd minute when Cowie was forced to make a goal-line clearance from Paul Lunan, but the home side doubled the lead 12 minutes later. Cowie squared the ball to Sean Higgins and from 15 yards the County striker found the back of the net via a wicked deflection off Loons defender Alan Rattray. Cowie exploded on the scene at the start of the second half when he curled a delightful left foot shot high into the box, and 60 seconds later the midfielder netted again after taking a more direct route to goal. It was all over for the visitors, and Kevin McKinlay added the fifth in the 77th minute when he headed in at the near post following a Cowie corner. |