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| 27/1 | Buckie Thistle | Home | Won 2-1 | Henderson and Cunnington |
| 18/2 | Glasgow Rangers | Home | Lost 2-3 | Bone (2) |
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This article appeared in The Sunday Times and was written by Archie McGregor as part of his series of articles entitled The Road To Hampden.
David vs Goliath is one thing, David turning into Goliath quite another. Ross County owe much of their present lofty status to theur ability to regularly ambush senior opponents in the Scottish Cup campaigns whilst still a member of the Highland League. With the visit of Buckie Thistle, their old adversaries in the Highland League, to Victoria Park, Dingwall on cup business yesterday, a perfect reverse symmetry was possible. The question was, would this role reversal turn Goliath into some kind of empathic gentle giants.
Not quite. County, senior in status and big in terms of ambitions in that they are amongst the protagonists agitating for the so-called SPL II, did not administer a clobbering to Buckie. Rather, they won in a manner more akin to a game of cat and mouse.
Only moments after Thistle's perseverence had been rewarded with a second-half equaliser, the Dingwall side re-adderted themselves and scored a decisive second goal that proved to be the winner. It was a cruel blow, even if merited on the balance of play.
By tradition, giant-killing feats tend to be splendidly isolated, involving the underdogs managing to summon up deep reserves of endeavour and generous good fortune. Having savoured their moment against Hamilton Academicals in the last round, Buckie knew the odds were stacked against them repeating the trick, although their previous cup exploits could have been a source of inspiration - 20 years ago they completed a notable double scalp by removing Meadowbank Thistle (now Livingston) and Stranraer from the competition.
It took only two minutes, however, for them to be reminded that their task of repeating such a feat was an onerous one as County swept into the lead. An exchange of passes down the County right flank saw Mark McCormick gain a promising position on the edge of the penalty area. His cross picked out Darren HENDERSON who only had to prod the ball home.
Right on half-time, Buckie might have levelled but for Graeme Grant's wild swipe at an inviting chance.
The incident convinced Buckie that they were not out of contention. In the early exchanges of the second half, Nicky Walker and his defensive colleagues grew more apprehensive in their duties and the visitors sent their travelling support into raptures when Charlie Rowley drove home the equaliser in the 66th minute.
It served as a wake-up call for County and they responded when Eddie CUNNINGTON pounced to beat Michael Rae with a drive. Shorlty before this, the ex-County youth 'keeper had pulledoff a stunning save to block an Owen Coyle chip shot. For the next round, County will undoubtedly wish to resume their old David role.
After the match Cunnington was quick to clear up the question mark hanging over his goal as there was a claim that it should have been awarded to Henderson. He said: "The Buckie goalkeeper [Michael Rae] said that it was a lucky goal, but I saw it as only a sligt deflection. I'm definately claiming it - let's face it, Darren's bum is almost impossible to miss as it is."
The defender added: "We found it hard and all credit to Buckie, but at the same time we hadn't played for quite a few weeks, or even trained on grass. I wasn't too worried when they equalised because it gave us the kick up the backside we needed and once the second goal went in we weren't in any real danger."
County manager Neale Cooper praised Buckie's fighting performance, while pointing out that this was his side's first taste of competitive action since January 2 - and it showed.
Cooper said: "The New Year game against Caley Thistle was the last game we played and that one came after a three-week lay-off. We've been training indoors and all credit to my boys, who worked hard on a heavy surface.
"I think Karim Boukraa showed a lot of great touches up the left, while John Fraser, who takes a lot of stick from the fans from time to time, also covered the park well, closed people down and has all the ability to be a top midfield player. Once we got that early goal we might have been expected to get a few more but the Buckie fans were superb and got behind their side throughout the game."
Ross County: Walker; Perry, Cunnington, Maxwell, Irvine, Fraser, McCormick (Bone, 72), Ferguson, Coyle, Boukraa and Henderson. Unused Subs: Hamilton (gk), Holmes, Gilbert and Zahani-Oni.
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by Alan Pattullo OL writing in The Scotsman.
Due to his religious convictions, Ross County chairman Roy MacGregor sadly missed this day of zest in the Highlands. This was a game that almost offered up one of football's more seismic shocks, and it also suggested that the Devil, as well as having the best tunes, has all the best games too.
Never in a life of Sundays will Dingwall again creak under the weight of such numbers and such expectation. Rangers, dressed all in white, sinned like serfs here, throwing away a two-goal lead against a team playing Third Division football just four years ago.
Redemption was found in Barry Ferguson's second-half winner, but County were strong to the last breath. Indeed, Scott Wilson was forced to clear Brian Irvine's header from beneath his own crossbar as County threatened to again pluck this thrilling Scottish Cup tie from Rangers' grasp.
Thirty-five years ago Rangers came to Victoria Park, again in the Scottish Cup, a game which saw a record attendance of 8,500 cram its way into the ground. There was not much less inside the stadium last night, but back then this number had edged into Victoria Park not just to see a Rangers team that included such luminaries as John Greig and Willie Johnston, but also to record how John Mackay, an Aberdeen University art student, and Tommy ("Tucker") Thompson, a filling store gunman, fared.
Alex Bone was County's only sharp-shooter last night, claiming a brace of goals, though the bandits from the Black Isle circa 2001 are not the mix of artisans that lined up against Rangers in 1966. Unbeaten in their past five games, they lie seventh in the First Division, with sights set on an SPL berth.
Included in their ranks are players who have experienced the top tier, and do not think for a moment that they are on the way down. Owen Coyle, Hugh Robertson and that man of God, Brian Irvine, are all offering devout service to a club that is clearly going places in a thoroughly progressive fashion.
They think nothing about appointing a woman to the club coaching staff, and this family atmosphere was further enhanced by repeated requests before last night's game for spectators to refrain from bad language and, yet more optimistically, Sectarian singing.
Within a few minutes of the start County's Coyle was marked out as a target for all manner of verbal taunts, mostly relating to his well-known leanings towards another Glasgow club. If old Roy MacGregor was sneaking a peek at this on television at home, his heart will have been speared.
Those County fans who had forsaken their release to be present were perhaps fidgeting in their seats and expecting God's wrath to fall upon them at any time. And lo, two thunderbolts were unleashed to douse Highland spirits, both via the boot of Tore Andre Flo.
It seems strange to think of a £12million striker coming to Dingwall in a bid to prove himself, but in the wake of a brace of uninspiring performances against Celtic, Flo was in search of something here in the north.
Most who linger awhile by the Moray Firth find peace, Flo instead found vigour. Two goals in the opening 17 minutes suggested that the miles travelled by the Rangers support would be happily retraced.
Flo's first arrived in only four minutes, a neat finish into the corner of Nicky Walker's goal after good link up play between Neil McCann and Kenny Miller. His second was a more virtuoso affair, flicking back his heel and driving into the net from 18 yards.
Flo was on form, but so, alas for Rangers, was Bone. Just back from suspension after a multiple sending-off, the County striker was clearly itching to make a more telling contribution, and this he did just three minutes after Flo had given Rangers a seemingly unassailable lead, firing home from 12 yards.
Incredibly, this was again a contest, and in the minutes before half-time County looked the more dangerous side. Flo, though, cracked in a vicious volley from 20 yards that was smartly tipped over by Walker, but County seemed a side topped up to the eyeballs with belief.
An initially unsteady defence became strong and an unsteady strike force became sure. Dick Advocaat, standing sentry-like by his dug-out, was watching over a rapidly fraying scene. During the warm-up he was spotted embracing a Rangers fan, who presumably had not been offering his views on the employment of Fernando Ricksen at right back again last night.
At this stage it was a comforting hug Advocaat needed, though no Rangers fan appeared willing to offer it.
It was all so different to the start of the game, when County seemed to have returned to their Highland League roots. Irvine was spotted clattering into the back of team-mate Steven Ferguson, as both stretched for a high ball. It was a comedy capers moment and poor Ferguson was left on the turf hearing bird noises as Irvine raced back to defend his goal, as ever acutely aware of his duties.
No-one in the County team was shirking. Even "Tucker" Thompson, a member of the 1966 team paraded at half-time, was nipping at the heels of John Greig, who also took a bow. There was a sense of occasion in the air, and how this came to fruition just 11 minutes into the second half. Bone, a constant spark of intuition on this cold night, was in the right place at the right time to give the scoreline parity and send the locals reeling into ecstasy.
The ball broke to Bone after a goal-mouth melee, and he did the necessary. Astonishingly, County almost took the lead when a thrilling run by Karim Boukkra was topped off by the midfielder's 20-yard shot being tipped over by goalkeeper Stefan Klos.
There was time left for Ferguson's winner, a neat clip into the net after good work by the captain, but time too for Robertson to see his rasping shot tipped wide by Klos.
County manager Neale Cooper was left to reflect on what might have been, having thought his side had done enough in the second half to cause a major shock, and he felt that County were denied at least one penalty late in the game.
"I'd like to look at the television monitors at a couple of the challenges in the box near the end of that match," he said after the match.
"I thought we did very well tonight and I thought we should have had a penalty. But decisions happen like that and tonight we didn't get it.
"It was criminal defending that led to their goals, getting turned twice – and they know that themselves. You start thinking this could be a rout. But then we got back in the game; the players had a bit more self-belief – and I thought we caused them a lot of problems.
"We kept the ball a lot better in the second half and played a lot of good football with good movement down the flanks. Fortunately for Rangers their goalkeeper Stefan Klos made a couple of good saves."
Ross County: Walker, Perry, Maxwell, Irvine, Robertson, McCormick (Fraser, 76), Steven Ferguson, Boukkra (Holmes, 72), Henderson (David Mackay, 64), Coyle, Bone. Subs not used: Hamilton (gk) and Cunnington.
Rangers: Klos, Wilson, Konterman, Malcolm, Reyna, Tugay, Ferguson, Ricksen, McCann, Miller (Johnston, 90), Flo. Subs not used: Moore, Carson, Christiansen and McHale.
Two further match reports can be found here.
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