Scottish Cup: St Mirren 1-1 Ross County

Derek Adams and his County side were left to rue an injury time penalty miss, as the fixtures now pile up for the first division side, writes Holly McCormack.

Richard Brittain turned from saint to sinner as he blasted wide the spot kick which would have ensured progress into the next round.

It was no trouble for the former Buddie in the first half when he took advantage of an earlier spot-kick after Craig Samson fouled Stuart Kettlewell as he sprinted towards goal.

The Buddie's quickly levelled though, David Van Zanten whipped in a dangerous cross into the path of Stephen Thompson who headed home past Michael Fraser.

Just moments later, Paul McGowan had a wonderful opportunity to edge the Paisley side ahead. Picking his spot, his stinging 25-yard volley was palmed away by Fraser. Having upped the tempo just before the break, Aaron Mooy then floated the ball deep inside the box but Marc McAusland headed over.

Having knocked St Mirren out of the league cup on penalties last season in Dingwall, Adams knows that will need to be a priority as the team prepare for the replay but he has no doubt that Brittain can step up again.

“Richie has been great for us and he does very well at penalties," said Adams. "The first was great and the second one, well that was great for St Mirren.

"We came and acquitted ourselves very well and unfortunately we have a replay to play now.

"The replay is a nightmare for us as we were meant to be playing Partick Thistle that night.

"It's another fixture to add to the list.”

Adams also conceeded that he felt that County had desrved the win.

“I thought we played very well and deserved to win the match," he said. "Last kick of the ball and we miss a penalty.

"Overall, it was a very good performance and probably why we are top of the league at this stage of the season.

"The performance shows the quality we have and it was a good afternoon for us. The one thing that I didn't want was a draw.”

It was the first division leaders who started the match brightly. An early mistake from McAusland allowed Steven Craig to quickly press an advantage. The shot was straight at Samson though who collected easily despite the poor weather conditions.

With 15 minutes played, Iain Vigurs threaded the ball through to Craig again but he couldn't catch up with the pace of the ball and it over-ran.


Buddies captain Jim Goodwin hadn't played a competitive match since signing a new deal, but he was the first player to find himself booked by referee Bobby Madden after a late challenge on Kettlewell.

The first sniff at a goal for Saints came when a bizarre back-pass from Craig had Fraser on his toes as he deflected the danger.

With half-an-hour played, good play from McGowan, Mooy and Gary Teale provided an opportunity but it fell to David Barron and the danger was easily cleared by the Ross Count defence.

Just five minutes before the break, the deadlock was broken. A silly error from Samson left Madden pointing to the spot and the Buddie's keeper was lucky to receive a yellow card, as another referee may have seen red.

Staggies captain Brittain stepped up with confidence and sent the ball into the bottom left corner. Samson had dived the wrong way and the first division side took a deserved lead.

Short lived it was though, as the Buddies chased for an equaliser. Van Zanten with the dangerous ball into the box and Thompson heading home for his Buddie's.

After the break, Danny Lennon made a few changes to the side. Both Teale and Mooy were replaced by Nigel Hasselbaink and Steven Thomson.

County continued to cause problems and Vigurs went for glory ten minutes into the half but his shot was over the crossbar.

A burst of pace from Hasselbaink caught the County defence unaware just a minute later, but the final ball from Thompson trundled wide.

Into the last 20 minutes and County still believed they could knock out the SPL side. Colin McMenamin had a great chance but headed over.

Graham Carey who passed a late fitness test to make the bench, hoped to be a saviour for Saints in the last ten minutes. Winning a free-kick it looked to be headed goal-bound, but it was tipped away.


County themselves made a few changes towards the end of the match. Sam Morrow and Kurtis Byrne came on to replace McMenamin and Craig.

Although, Saints were pressing deep as the game reached it's final stages, it was County who would have the last say. Caught on the counter attack, Marc Corcoran raced towards the St Mirren goal but was brought down eventually by Lee Mair.

Madden again pointed to the spot but this time, Brittain hit the penalty wide and forced a Valentine's Day replay in Dingwall.

Buddies boss Danny Lennon was quick to apologise to the home support for a disappointing display.

He said: “I would like to apologise to our wonderful supporters who invest their hard earned cash coming here and emotions.

"They never saw the true identity of the team today. If we can take anything from today, it's that we are still in the cup.

"I'm sure the supporters share the same sigh of relief as I do, my players, staff and the board of directors.”

Lennon felt that error were beginning to creep into the side and he looked to eradicate these as soon as possible.

“I need to compliment Ross County who are very organised side and I can see why they are riding that first division high. They made life very difficult for us.

"Disappointing for me was, that wasn't our identity.

"There was a lot of things that I saw creeping into the game today, that haven't been there for a long, long time.

"Hopefully, we can iron that out very quickly and I've addressed that in the dressing room.

"I thought with the game it's self, no team deserved to win it.

"Although, with the last minute penalty they will feel that had an excellent opportunity.”

Lennon admits that he isn't looking forward to another trip up the A9 and that the squad will need to prepare properly for the replay.

He said: "Anytime that we've come across first division teams, we really analysed Ross County this week in terms of video and match reports.

"We went over them with a fine tooth-comb, we knew they would stifle up.

"We speak about the importance, urgency and tempo and I didn't see it.

"Even when things aren't going the way you want them to go in terms of possession and getting the ball down, you've still got to go and earn the right to play.

"I don't think we done that today at all. Today, we had one bit of inspiration and brilliance – and we score a goal from it.

"Thereafter, the only other real lift we got was when Graham Carey came on for ten minutes, he provided a spark.

"It was unfortunate Graham was a late contention and just passed a fitness test this morning and hadn't trained all week.

"But, as I said earlier the only thing we can take out of this is that we are still in the cup.”