Three takeaways from Ross County's Scottish Cup exit away at Hamilton
Ross County are out of the Scottish Cup after a penalty shoot-out defeat to Championship strugglers Hamilton Academical.
It was a far from inspiring performance from the Staggies, who after a bright start struggled to test Ryan Fulton in their host's goal.
There were around 200 County fans in attendance, and they will not have been impressed by the display. With that in mind, here are three things to take away from the match, with reaction from manager Malky Mackay and full back Connor Randall.
Lacking quality out wide
I've written a lot before about the way County set up in the final third, and what abilities certain players possess that make them threats, or too easy to defend against at times.
One thing that was abundantly clear at Hamilton, though, was that the Staggies struggle to pick out teammates from crosses – especially obvious when they persisted with quick and short set-pieces rather than sending the ball directly into the box.
There were plenty of chances in the opening stretch especially, but without the quality to put any of them away. Then, when things settled down in the match, County had plenty of possession out wide without really troubling the home goalkeeper Ryan Fulton.
Yan Dhanda remains the most likely to find a key pass, but in a more central role he cannot always be relied on to pop up in a wider space to play that ball in.
Instead, the responsibility has to come down to the players out wide – whether wingers or full backs – and for large portions of the cup tie that simple wasn't there.
Connor Randall's thoughts: "If we had been a bit more clinical today it could have changed the game, but that's something that's happened too much lately.
"If there was an easy solution we would have done it. It's having that bit of composure and quality – we get into good areas, but maybe don't have the quality on the cross of the finishing.
"We've got players that can do that, but unfortunately it's not happening on the pitch at the moment."
Unwanted extra minutes
Given Malky Mackay had spoken before the game about managing niggling injuries and being conscious of some players' work loads, extra time would have been the last thing he wanted.
With three games in seven days fast approaching, fatigue – both physical and mental – is a very real factor that could come into play for the Staggies imminently.
Yes, only five County players were on the pitch for the full 120 minutes, but 13 played at least a half of football where in some cases they may have been hoping for a quiet afternoon on the bench.
Of course, it was a situation of their own doing, as had they taken some of those early chances they could have been out of sight long before the full time whistle.
Manager Malky Mackay's thoughts: "We're disappointed after having so much of the game, and with the amount of chances we had. We ended up with something like 40 crosses and 24 shots at goal, so to not score with that amount of ball is quite incredible.
"When you create that many chances, at some point someone has to have a calm head and put the ball in the net.
"Right through to the last couple of minutes, the ball was bouncing around their goal line. On the whole, I can't criticise my players for how dominant they were, but I take responsibility for us not scoring and being out of the cup."
A hammer blow
If extra time was a nightmare scenario for Malky Mackay, exiting the competition at the end of it was the worst possible outcome.
He had spoken before the match about it being a break from the pressure of the league campaign, but there was no fresh impetus to take from the cup back into the Premiership.
Instead, confidence will have dropped even lower, and faith from the supporters is going the same way.
Looking at the league table, it is too early to say right now that defeat to Hamilton is a fatal blow to County's prospects over the rest of the campaign.
However, if they do end up getting relegated from the top flight, this will be a result that is looked back on as one of the signs it was coming.
Connor Randall's thoughts: "It's obviously a really disappointing day for us, and we know it's not good enough. We should have gone through.
"It's embarrassing for us really, as a team and individually. We're very disappointed with what's happened today, but we have a massive game to go and get ready for that we need to put a performance in to start putting things right on the pitch.
"We're in a massive battle to stay in the league, so it's time for us to fight for that, and each and every one of us has to do that."
