Ross County 1-2 Saints

Last updated : 15 February 2012 By Stuart Gillespie

It is tradition for the Buddies to make things hard for themselves, especially when they're playing a lower league side, and they certainly did that tonight. Steven Thompson was sent off and after going 2-0 up we almost immediately conceded a goal. However, we were able to cling on and now face a trip to Hearts in the last eight.

As expected, Nigel Hasselbaink came into the team for the cup-tied Dougie Imrie while County rested a number of players ahead of Saturday's league clash. That was a boost for us and we went in front after a quarter of an hour when Thompson headed down a cross and Gary Teale rifled the ball home.

Unfortunately, Thompson's next involvement wasn't so impressive - the big striker shown a straight red card for an apparent elbow just before the break. There is some confusion as to how many games he'll be banned for and in what competitions but it's a huge blow.

We were up against it after that but Hasselbaink boosted our hopes just after the interval when he fired home our second after being set up by Graham Carey. The lead didn't last long, Sam Morrow pulling one back just three minutes later, but thankfully we were able to see things out and will now head to Tynecastle in the quarter-finals.

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