Lorsports' Home Page
Lorsports' Home Page
Montrose 3; Ross County 4 |
Outstanding was how Ross County manager Neale Cooper described hat-trick hero Derek Adams' performance in Saturday's victory over Montrose to send the Dingwall side to the top of the Bell's Third Division.
The former Aberdeen and Burnley forward stole the show for County with a superb display. Adams, who was County's top scorer last season with 23 goals, missed the early part of the season with a stomach bug.
He said, "I am happy to be back and scoring goals. I ended up losing a stone in weight and my place in the side."
County were awarded their first penalty in six minutes when McBain was brought down in the box. Adams converted the spot kick. Twenty minutes later Ferguson was brought down in the penalty area and Adams duly converted his second kick to score his side's second goal.
Adams completed his hat-trick with a glorious 40-metre chip over Larter in the forty-ninth minute. Montrose refused to buckle and they fought back to level the score with goals from Andrew, Tindall and McGlashan. However, County forced the pressure and a sweeping move involving Alex Taylor and Stuart Golabek resulted in McBain tapping in with only six minutes remaining.
Manager Cooper said, "We are absolutely delighted and the first half was a joy to watch. We created a lot of chances. Derek showed that he is a the best finisher in the league with a wonderful third goal."
HMM
Ross County 8; Montrose 1 |
Ross County left Montrose in no doubt as to who was in charge between the two sides. The length of the Third Division separated the sides at the start of play and so it was at the end. Manager Neale Cooper rated this performance as the best under his charge. "Everyone gave their all and did all that I asked of them."
Only when Higgins scored to bring the score to 2-1 did Montrose look capable of salvaging anything from the match. It was a brief moment of promise.
Derek Adams scored a hat-trick and Roy McBain, Gerry Farrell, Steve Ferguson, Willie Furphy and Gary Wood scored on apiece in a superb team effort.
Cooper is hopeful that County will have set the standard that we all expect in the weeks to come. He said, "Although we are top of the league, we have not been playing to our full potential. In the last couple of weeks, particularly, we have been disappointing."
"Now we have to be more consistent in the way that we play as a team. This is just the start of things. We have to play along these lines every week."
In a pre-match interview, Gary wood said, "It is a long road that lies ahead and it is imperative that we have a good lead in the league as we enter the winter period. We need a gap as we enter into January and I think that this will happen and we will start to show a lot more class as well." A prophetic Gary Wood?
HMM 24 November 1997
Montrose 0; Ross County 2 |
Ross County kept their promotion hopes alive with a victory over struggling Montrose. This win will have been a comfort to Neale Cooper who had to stay at home with a virus.
Relieved Jim Kelly, County’s assistant manager, said, "We stated quite clearly that the rest of our games would be more about results than performances and we picked a side tonight strictly aimed at getting a result.
"It wasn’t pretty but we worked hard and we were worth our one-goal lead. The second came because Kenny Gilbert did what all managers expect from their strikers - he followed the ball in and pounced on the slip."
Top scorer Derek Adams and midfielder Steve Ferguson were back in the County line-up.
The first half was a dour struggle. County could not create any clear-cut chances and Nicky Walker had to look sharp to turn a Taylor header over the bar.
In the second half County looked more urgent but it was not until the 74th minute that Gilbert exchanged a one-two with Gerry Farrell to set up Roy McBain to place the ball wide of the diving Murray.
County clinched the points in the final minute through skipper Gilbert after ‘keeper Murray let a Ferguson cross slip through his hands and the former-Aberdeen player made no mistake from close in.
HMM 10 March 1998
Ross County 2; Montrose 1 |
A controversial goal gave County their second win over Montrose in the space of five days.
The Montrose boss, Tommy Campbell, was furious with referee Kevin Bissett’s decision to allow a Steve Ferguson goal which players say did not cross the line.
Young County striker Connor Campbell put the Dingwall side ahead in the 13th minute after he collected a Billy Herd through ball to fire tha ball past Murray.
Montrose levelled the game early in the second half when MacDonald took advantage of a defensive mix-up to slot the ball home.
Ferguson sealed the points for County by scoring the disputed goal.
Ferguson said, "To be honest, I fell over and didn’t see tha ball go in. Some players have said that it crossed the line, others say it didn’t. It looked as if it was going in the last time I saw it."
HMM 15 March 1998
Lorsports' Home Page