Inverness CT 1 - 1 Ross County

(After extra time)
North Cup - Semi-Final
Tuesday, March 30th, 2004, 7:00 PM at Caledonian Stadium, Inverness
Attendance: 368
Referee: S Logan
Inverness CT  Ross County

Goalscorers
None. None.

Team Managers
John Robertson Unknown.

Starting Eleven
Unknown.

Substitutes
None.

Substitutions
None. None.



INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE 1 (Hart 79)
Fraser, Proctor, Thomson, Munro, MacKinnon, MacRae, Hart, Finnigan, MacMillan, C Christie, Hislop (MacLaren 65)
Subs – M Smith, A Christie, Chisholm & J Smith

ROSS COUNTY 1 (Hamilton 73)
Fridge, N MacDonald (Buzzeo 74), Webb, O’Donnell, Malcolm, Townsley, Gethins (Gray 84), Cowie, Hamilton,
Higgins (J MacDonald 89), Ogunmade
Subs – Miller & Gardiner

ICT penalties – Hart, MacRae, Munro and MacKinnon scored. Finnigan saved.

RC penalties – O’Donnell & Gray scored. Malcolm saved, J MacDonald over bar.



Caley Thistle reached the semi-final of the North Cup by beating Nairn 4-1 and Forres 5-0 in the group stage and they faced a strong County line-up. Both sides fielded experienced players and it was all very close. Les Fridge saved a powerful Richie Hart header in 17 minutes and Mike Fraser held a Stephen O’Donnell 25 yard shot in 40 minutes – otherwise the first half produced little on target. The second half was livelier and County’s Jim Hamilton blasted the ball off the post on the hour mark. Hamilton headed wide in 69 minutes then David MacRae shot past at the other end. Connor Gethins made the opener in 73 minutes when he drew the defence on the right and slipped the ball across goal for an easy Hamilton tap-in. Chris Finnigan set up the equaliser in 79 minutes with a good run down the right and a pass infield to Charlie Christie. Christie won a 50/50 ball then saw his shot blocked. Richie Hart was well placed to score from the rebound. A minute over time Hamilton should have clinched it for County but somehow he hit the ball across goal from the left post. Into extra time and more of the same. A Hart low ball was blocked in 101 minutes and Mark Gardiner headed over for County in 115 minutes. Fridge saved from Hart with the last kick of the game and it was on to penalties. County missed their first two but Caley Thistle only failed with one out of five. There was no need for County to even take their fifth – the home side had won 4-2.

None.