Saturday 27 August 1994 was a landmark day in the world of Highlands football. For the first time, a match that has earned the monikers ‘El Kessocko’ and the ‘Cold Firm’ was played in the Scottish Football League.
More than 3,000 fans packed into Ross County’s Victoria Park ground for the visit of Caledonian Thistle, but the journey to this Scottish Third Division match was a long time in the making.
A new club, fan protests, and a date in Glasgow with Scottish Football League officials were all on the agenda before the first ball was kicked between the Highland rivals.
Dingwall’s decades of football
For the hosts, the lead up to the match was significantly more straightforward than that of their visitors, so let’s begin with County.
Founded in 1929, Ross County entered the Highland League that same year, playing their home matches at Dingwall’s Victoria Park (which remains the club’s home today). Their first season proved to be a success, with County lifting the North of Scotland Cup.
Highland League success eluded County until season 1966/67, when the club one its first championship. Back-to-back league triumphs in seasons 1990/91 and 1991/92 put the club in a strong position when a proposed Scottish Football League restructure resulted in applications being sought to join the national setup for season 1994/95.
Inverness merger met with mixed reception
Across the Kessock Bridge in Inverness, the football landscape was less clear. Prior to the summer of 1994, the city had three clubs competing in the Highland League: Clachnacuddin, Caledonian and Inverness Thistle.
With the opportunity of a spot in the Third Division up for grabs, initial proposals suggested a three-way merger to form one Inverness team. However, Clachnacuddin quickly dropped out of the project.
Although Caledonian and Thistle both voted in favour of a merger on 9 September 1993, there were many fans vehemently against the project, with some ripping up season tickets in disgust; the Saturday after the midweek vote, a group of dissenting Caley fans invaded the pitch during their match at Rothes.
Despite the opposition, and the ongoing disgruntlement among some supporters of both sides, the merger to form Caledonian Thistle was agreed, and season 1993/94 would be the final call for Caledonian and Inverness Thistle as independent clubs.
Scottish football’s winds of change
As the 1990s neared their midpoint, the winds of change were sweeping across Scottish football; the Scottish Football League had voted to reorganise from three divisions to four leagues of 10 teams. This meant that, for season 1994/95, two spots would be available to join the newly created Third Division.
On 12 January 1994, representatives from Ross County and the newly formed Caledonian Thistle joined officials from Gala Fairydean, Elgin City and Gretna at Glasgow’s RAC Club alongside members of the 38 Scottish Football League clubs, who would decide by vote which two sides would join them the following campaign. The 12 Premier League clubs would receive four votes each, while the 12 Division 1 sides would each have two votes. The 14 sides in Division 2 would have a single vote.
After only half an hour, it was declared that Caledonian and Ross County had been successful. The newly formed Caledonian Thistle, who would be managed by Sergei Baltacha, topped the scoring with 68 votes. Ross County were comfortably in second spot with 57 votes. County manager Bobby Wilson felt that his side’s 4-0 thumping of Second Division Forfar Athletic four days earlier in the Second Round of the Scottish Cup could have helped sway the vote in his side’s favour.
| Team | Number of votes |
|---|---|
| Caledonian Thistle | 68 |
| Ross County | 57 |
| Gala Fairydean | 35 |
| Elgin City | 10 |
| Gretna | 2 |
Landmark day at Victoria Park
Voting and paperwork now completed, the stage was set for the new season, with players, staff and supporters of both Highland clubs marking the date of Saturday 27 August in the calendar.
On the third weekend of the season, the newly refurbished Victoria Park was the venue for the Third Division’s first Highland derby.
The hosts went into the match on four points (one better off than the visitors) having followed up their opening day 2-0 victory at Cowdenbeath with a 2-2 draw at East Stirling.
In keeping with their journey to this stage, Caley’s start to the season was more tumultuous than County’s. Sergei Baltacha’s side got off to a flying start with a thumping 5-2 victory at home to Arbroath, with Alan Hercher scoring a first half hat-trick. However, Caley came crashing back down to earth the following weekend when Queen’s Park travelled north and left Inverness with a 4-0 win.
County started the match positively and had a chance to score inside the first minute, but Brian Grant fired wide from close range. The home side continued to play some neat football, but it was Caley who took the lead on 11 mins when Sandy MacLeod turned Mike Noble’s attempt into his own net.
There were chances at both ends during a busy first half, but County couldn’t find an equaliser. Just before the break and following an old-fashioned stramash in the County box, the home side’s Gary Campbell was sent off after he raised his hands at an opponent. Watching the incident today, you would struggle to see a yellow card being issued for such an offence. However, in the mid-90s any raising of the hands was deemed a red card, so off Campbell went.
Caley’s man and goal advantage didn’t last long; five minutes after the restart, County’s Billy Ferries sent a teasing ball across the face of the goal. As Grant stretched to reach it, Caley defender Mike Andrew, who had already been booked, was adjudged to have pushed the striker. A penalty was awarded, and the Caley man received his second yellow card of the afternoon. Andy MacLeod calmly dispatched the spot-kick beyond Caley ‘keeper Mark McRitchie to level the scores.
If the Dingwall side thought the pendulum had swung in their favour, they were in for a surprise. On 62 minutes, Wilson Robertson, who had been causing the home defence problems with his pace all afternoon, swung in a cross that was deflected into his own net by Chris Somerville. Although wrong-footed, County goalkeeper Steve Hutchison could, perhaps, have dealt better with the deflection.
A thumping free-kick from Grant was well saved by McRitchie – as County pushed for a second equaliser; Jamie McPherson should have done better on the rebound but could only screw his shot wide from close range. As the hosts continued to press, they left themselves susceptible to a counterattack, and it was the pace of Robertson that eventually sealed the points for the visitors. Sent clear on 75 minutes, the winger showed Billy Herd a clean pair of heels before zipping a left-footed shot beyond the outstretched arms of Hutchison and putting Caley 3-1 ahead.
‘Travesty of justice’
In his post-match interview, County manager Bobby Wilson described the visitors’ 3-1 victory as ‘a wee bit of a travesty of justice’. Caley would argue otherwise – with their counter-attacking style proving to be the difference – but it was the Dingwall side who ended up having the stronger season. County finished the campaign in third position with 60 points, seven behind second place Montrose, who would join champions Forfar in Division 2 the following season. Caley’s mixed form saw them finish in sixth place with 45 points.
Two years later, now renamed Inverness Caledonian Thistle and managed by Steve Paterson, who had replaced Sergei Baltacha in 1995, Caley won the league and earned a place in the Second Division for the 1997/98 campaign. After two seasons in the Second Division, Caley gained promotion to the First.
Super Caley Go Ballistic
Only five years after their formation, Caley were now operating one level below Scottish football’s top tier. The club made international news in 2000 when they knocked Celtic out of the Scottish Cup with a 3-1 victory at Parkhead. The ‘Super Caley Go Ballistic Celtic Are Atrocious’ headline is arguably the most famous in Scottish football history. Caley went on to repeat the trick in 2003, this time defeating the Glasgow side 1-0 at home in the Scottish Cup quarter finals.
In 2004, Caley, now managed by John Robertson, won the First Division title, meaning the Inverness side would compete in Scottish football’s top-flight in season 2004/05. It had been quite the decade since the initial merger proposals between the Inverness sides.
Major trophies head to the Highlands
Across the bridge, Ross County’s journey to the top tier took a little longer. Having won the Third Division Championship in season 1998/99, County then gained promotion to the First Division at the first time of asking; the club spent seven seasons in the second tier between 2000 and 2007, when they were relegated back to the Second Division. However, their stay was short-lived. In season 2007/08, County, managed by Derek Adams, won the Second Division, gaining instant promotion back to the second tier. Four years later, and with Adams enjoying his second stint in the dugout (he had initially left the club in 2010) County won the First Division at a canter – losing only one match all season and finishing 24 points ahead of runners-up Dundee – to take their place in the Premier League for the first time in their history.
More than thirty years on from the first Highland derby in 1994, both clubs can reflect on a major trophy in their cabinets; in 2016, Ross County won the Scottish League cup, beating Hibernian 2-1 in the final courtesy of a last-minute winner from Dutch forward Alex Schalk. A year earlier, Caley had beaten Falkirk by the same scoreline to lift the Scottish Cup at Hampden.
The move to the national set up may have been acrimonious for many fans, but there can be little argument that the Highland clubs have played a major role in Scottish senior football since officials gathered in Glasgow to cast their votes in January 1994.
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