ELGIN CITY 1 (Smith og 71)Pirie, Allison (Campbell 10), Vigurs, Tully, Dickson, McKenzie, McMullan, McMillan, Bone, McLean, Martin
Subs � Bremner, Reid, McCormick & Hamilton
INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE 0Fraser, M Smith, Thomson, Munro, MacKinnon, MacLaren (Jarvie 64), Proctor, MacRae, MacMillan, C Christie,
A Christie (Finnigan 70) Subs � Chisholm, Sutherland & J Smith
For the first time ever the North Cup Final was a battle between two SFL teams. Elgin won narrowly with a strong team.
Mike Fraser was in fine form and made a number of great saves before being beaten by a fluke own goal. Elgin always looked the better side and more likely to score but they were dealt an early blow when skipper John Allison was carried off with a suspected broken ankle. In four minutes David Proctor sent a low ball across goal but just ahead of Aaron Christie. Two minutes later Fraser made the first of his saves when he stopped a Jamie McKenzie header at point-blank range. Martin Pirie came out to collect ahead of Craig MacMillan in 17 minutes then punched clear a bouncing ball from Charlie Christie. Elgin came very close in 33 minutes when McKenzie sent a free kick to the back post and Hugh Dickson headed off the bar. A Charlie Christie shot from 18 yards was bundled away in 57 minutes and Elgin claimed hand-ball in 66 minutes when Lewis MacKinnon cleared. Mike Ritchie ignored the pleas and Elgin continued to press. Dickson headed wide then Mark Smith cleared a McKenzie angled shot off the line. The defender was very unlucky in 71 minutes when a Neil McLean shot came in at a narrow angle from the left and it hit off him for what proved to be the winner. David MacRae sent a glancing header wide with one of the few real ICT chances then Fraser bravely blocked a hard shot from Alex Bone. With a minute to go Fraser again had to be sharp to palm away a close-range effort from Ally McMillan. There was still time for one last Caley Thistle assault and it fell to Darran Thomson who took a Grant Munro lob and raced in on goal from the left - his low shot was on target but Pirie just managed to touch it away. The last chance was gone and the cup went to Elgin.