Ross County lose out in penalty shoot-out
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2
Ross County 2
ICT: White (56, 81) County: Stewart (23) Gardyne (68)
Inverness Caledonian Thistle win 5-4 on penalties.
DECLAN McManus' saved penalty proved to be the difference in a shoot-out which saw Ross County go crashing out of the Scottish Cup at Caley Thistle.
Inverness scored all five of their penalty with Nathan Austin netting the winning spot-kick to progress to a quarter final showdown at Dundee United.
Ross Stewart gave Ross County the lead before Jordan White equalised in the second half. Poor defending allowed Michael Gardyne to regain the lead for the Staggies before White’s strike nine minutes from time forcing extra time and penalties.
Inverness made three changes as Liam Polworth passed a late fitness test to come in for Charlie Trafford.
Coll Donaldson and Sean Welsh came into the starting 11 in favour of Shaun Rooney and Darren McCauley respectively.
Ross County made five changes from the 2-1 win against East Fife in the Irn-Bru Cup semi final.
Scott Fox came back in goal to replace Ross Munro with Michael Gardyne, Billy McKay, Keith Watson and Lewis Spence also brought into the starting line-up.
Daniel Armstrong was cup-tied for the encounter with Declan McManus and Tom Grivosti on the bench and Harry Paton being dropped from the squad.
The hosts suffered a major blow as Tom Walsh came off injured after just 17 minutes and was replaced by Anthony McDonald.
Ross County took the lead in the 23 minute when Ross Stewart connected with a Josh Mullin cross from the right wing as his header smacked against the crossbar and went over the line.
Inverness drew level in the 56 minute when Liam Polworth won a corner kick which was floated in by Chalmers and White got his head to nod past Fox from close range.
But County regained the lead in the 68 minute when Mullin’s cross into the box found Michael Gardyne who took advantage of slack defending to fire into the back of the net.
Inverness levelled again nine minutes from time when White ran onside to a Liam Polworth pass and kept his composure to drill the ball past Fox to force the game into extra time before ICT won 5-4 on penalties.
Inverness: Ridgers, Tremarco, Chalmers (Austin 76), Donaldson, McCart, Polworth, Doran (Trafford 102), Walsh (McDonald 16) (McCauley 105), Welsh, White, McKay.
Subs (Unused) Mackay, Rooney, McHattie.
County: Fox, Fraser, Draper, Gardyne, McKay (Wallace 112), Boyle, Mullin (McManus 79), Watson, Spence (Lindsay 66), Stewart (Graham 100), Van der Weg.
Subs (Unused) Munro, Grivosti, Murray.
Attendance: 3608
