Ok thought Id start the topic.
Ive got to be honest and say that until Dumbatons last two results I would have said tough match for County as im sure Dumbarton will raise their game playing fulltime team etc however after they were soundly pumped by Shire and could only draw at home to Albion, It has to be Home win 3-0 County.
How many supporters are making the trip up the A9?

It will be good to play a team we haven't seen at Viccy Park in a few years.
We are playing well at the moment so confident we can score a few goals.
If East Stirling can score 5 against them i dont see why we cant.

Have my reservations about this as we have been poor in the last few games.

If we played to potential we can certainly give you a good game but it all depends how we are put out tactically, I fully expect Ross County to be an extremely good outfit and beat us maybe 2-0 but I am always hopeful.

Certainly at least one busload is heading up the A9 on Saturday morning early doors

I hate these games. If we don't win comfortably then Dumbarton fans will have a right go at us. If we lose, everyone will have a go at us, and if we do win by three or four, then nobody will say anything.

As a county fan mentiond up until a few games ago I'd have thought we could have given them a good game but now am not so sure, saying that if our players play to their ability we could run them close though i'd still expect county to win! Does that guy Richard Brittan play for County? player that as always really impressed me and always thought he would be playing in the SPL

Aye he does. There's a video clip of him scoring against Airdrie in the match report thread.

County's till have a league game before the cup game, so any of my predictions will have to wait until after that.

Since the draw I've been keeping a special eye open for Dumbarton's results, and they have not been the best, however I know that before this they were better.

Usually the games between the teams are close.. Only one game has seen more than a 2 goal margin, that happened to be the last time Dumbarton came to Dingwall when they were beaten 5-0 in the Challenge Cup (season 03-04)

In fact Dumbarton have never beaten County in a cup match, this record even goes back to when County were a Highland League team.

P.S. Keep an eye out on the weather forecast.. due to turn cold with snow again on Friday/Saturday !

Do County have decent covers for the pitch?

Just back from working up there over the weekend and the snow seemed to settle pretty quickly. Assuming it snows again could the game be in doubt?

Dont fancy another 5hr journey for a postponement

Yes County do hae covers for frost and snow think it would be suicidal not too this far north!!

I forget - do 'highlights' exist for these games? Does anyone bother to show them?

As has been said, County will expect to win the game, probably by two or three, and it's almost a minimum requirement. Hope the Dumbarton fans enjoy their trip up, and aren't celebrating on the return journey

What are the burds like?

In general or in comparrison to Dumbarton's breed ??

Given the relative state of some Dumbarton lassies I'll go with the 'general' option

Sky Sports News normally shows some of the Scottish Cup highlights late on Saturday night.
Dunno if there will be highlights on terrestrial tv though.

Do Sportscene not do a special highlights show for the Scottish Cup weeekend? There were definately highlights shown on BBC a couple of years back when we played Celtic. That was the 4th round though.

Any idea what the weather is like up there? Heard its suposed to be snowing??

Will the trains be on?

I live in Inverness and its not snowing at the moment, very cold though, should hope its on tomorrow

Roads not looking good though..

BBC

So what chances do Dingwall folk give of the game being on, given the potential bad weather?

On the game itself, given our last two results and performances being disappointing to say the least, we will need to be very careful how we approach the game, or it could be a big score...

I know it's not fitting with the 'romance of the cup' cliche etc, but I really hope we go there to shut up shop and 'park a bus' so to speak. 4-5-1 would do me.

Ross County are a team two divisions higher than us, and we can't be on very high confidence, so frustrating them and trying to stop them playing is going to be the only way I can see us possibly getting anything from the game, or even keeping the score down....

I hope we don't risk Murray and play 5 in the middle of the park to try and achieve the above.

As you can probably tell, I'm not hopeful at all about the game, and loathe to make a prediction about the match itself. The only prediciton I will make though, is that I will be drunk.

Are you getting the later train or the earlier train with us?

I don't think there is a problem with the game.

It's cold tonight, but the covers are down. And no snow is forecast until Monday.

I would check the roads though. The A9 is pretty bad this evening around Dalwhinnie

Earlier train mate.

What about trains? Any chance of delays or anythng?

Are your stenny mates joining us?

I don't think so.

You guys only get to Glasgow at 7.00am, don't u?

When you compare someone like Dyron to say, Michael Moore, it would suggest Dumbarton have little chance but we have to respect them. I think a danger to us would be to lose a player for our next home match against Dunfermline, a thug like Moore being the most likely culprit.

Im guessing the game is on?

Nothing so far to say any different.

It was very cold overnight.. Minus 7'C I believe it hit in the Dingwall area.

However it is a very bright sunny day now, so with the sun, and the fact the covers were down since Wednesday I am sure things will be OK.

Good luck County! slightly nervous about this one actually, and i dont know why... but will be happy with a mere win, no matter how close!

And i also hope that all Dumbarton fans have a nice trip up north and hopefully regardless of the score it wont seem like too long a cold, dark, journey home!!!

i'm lying here tucked up with my sick bucket next to the computer, waiting in anticipation to see the mick moore hatrick flash up on sky sports.

lightweight!

According to bbc the MAXIMUM temperature it's going to reach up there in -4

incedentley the last game I 'chose' not to go to (i.e. not because of work) was the game up at arbroath that was called off )

......bollocks

any comments on the game itself?

Kyle if you read this I hope your boaby hasn't blown up after watching wee deek score twice.

Firstly I'll appologise to Dumbarton fans for not giving your team much credit here.. but the game was spoilt by a power hungry, attention seeking, cheating referee Seven O'Reilly !

The first half was totally dominated by County. We took the lead in the 15th minute when Sean Higgins scored. However despite there not being a bad challenge in the match the referee continued to blow his whistle non-stop - maybe I'm getting paranoid but he was blowing every time County even touched a Dumbarton player. Dumbarton got wise to this and went down very easily at every opportunity and the referee gave them all the time.

Dyron Daal was then sent off just before half time. It was a wild lunge, and I'll not defend him. He committed a similar foul on Tuesday against partick and was booked. This foul was at the far end of the pitch but to me it looked no more than a booking !

Into the second half and County continued to play well, and got a deserved second goal when Higgins skipped past four players inside the penalty box before putting the ball into the net.

At this stage it was only a matter of how many County would get - even though they were playing with 10 men as County created numerous chances.

Then County were denied a stone wall penalty when the Dumbarton player clearly handled the ball inside the penalty box (memories of two weeks ago and the decision in the Challenge Cup final).

Dumbarton then pulled a goal back, it was a bit of a scramble in which Bullock made three saves in quick succession, but unable to clear the ball Dumbarton forced it over the line.

Then three minutes later the worst refereeing decision I have ever seen lead to Dumbarton's opener ! A long ball out to the left wing, saw the far side linesman raise his flag for offside. But the referee who was at least 15 yards behind play waved frantically for the linesman to put his flag down - the linesman continued to hold it high - but the referee waved play on. The Dumbarton player went forward and scored !

How often do we ask for linesmen to help referees, but now when they do (and are in a better position to make the decision than the referee) he then over rules the decision.

I would like to hear the comments of Derek Adams after this game !

Why? We're not out of the Scottish Cup.

Unfortunately, it would appear we've been on the end of yet another disgusting refereeing performance this season. (And they say it evens itself out over the course of a season!)

If they are going to even themselves out over the season, then I full expect to be awarded eight dodgy penalties and a handful of offside goal decisions in our favour over the course of the second half of the season.

Doesn't suprise me that a ref has cost us again. John Robertson was puzzled on the radio by what the ref did which led to their second goal.

On the plus side for me i'll be able to go to the replay as its only about half an hour away from Glasgow.

I think at the end of the day, the most the club can do is put an official complaint in against the official. We're still in this competition though and we'll be in the draw on Monday it has to be mentioned, despite another awful refereeing display.

No excuses for losing the replay at Dumbarton either...that's assuming we don't get another shocking referee.

I wondered what Daal had been sent off for - glad to see the referee wasn't looking for an excuse to punish us for making him travel up the road in the cold.

Going on the reported performance, you'd have to expect us to win the replay (this midweek?), though Dumbarton will no doubt be delighted to have a crack at us on their own patch after a good comeback.

Still confident, it's just a pain in the arse to have to spend another evening constantly checking the scores online.

He said he did it!

TJE wouldn't make a great lawyer if that was his defence. Only, it wasn't.

Replay is on a week Tuesday.

mon the sons

Aye, he fair wants his boab!!

deserved i feel. The linesman on the far side from us had a very poor game . . .can only think of one decision that he got right.
Murray was clearly onside and i'm glad the ref seen sense and let us play on to score the equaliser. . .we did seem to get outplayd early on and for the first 15-20 mins of the second half but we never gave up.
Happy with that as i thought we would have been beaten by at least 2 goals and it gives us an alryt chance of getting through

Daal challenge was a lunge, and it was late. But I felt that it was the reaction of the Dumbarton players that got Daal sent off. The quickly surrounded the referee after the challenge.

I've not seen that referee before. I guess that he does 2nd / 3rd division games. If so then my hope that there was some good referees out there has now disappeared.

stop making excuses!

imagine losing a two goal lead to a third division side, 10 men or not. blaming the ref really is clutching at straws.

You mentioned 2 players and the word thug, just related the wrong one to it.