Had Richard Brittain found the net rather than the back of the stand with his spot-kick there could have been few complaints about us being out of the cup. Ross County played with urgency, created plenty of chances and were far more incisive with their passing. We were none of those things. We were lethargic, the build up was too deliberate, we played the ball back far too often and had very few clear cut opportunities. The only bright spots were just before half-time when we were stung into action by Brittain successfully converting a spot-kick and in the last quarter of an hour when Graham Carey came on.
He'd been left on the bench due to injury but Jim Goodwin was deemed fit enough to start. He was joined in midfield by David Barron, meaning we had two holding midfielders against a lower league side at home. Even worse, we had only one proper striker in Steven Thompson with Aaron Mooy and Gary Teale in behind. Carey was joined on the bench by the dropped Steven Thomson with Dougie Imrie cup-tied. County, meanwhile, had a front three thanks to Colin McMenamin, Steven Craig and former Buddie Mark Corcoran. Fellow ex-Saint Brittain also started with Paul Lawson on the bench.
In horrendous weather conditions we got under way and when the ball skidded off Marc McAusland after a couple of minutes it gave McMenamin a chance but his effort was poor and caused Craig Samson no problems. McGowan looked miles offside a few minutes later when Teale played him in but the flag stayed down, only for McGowan to stand on the ball as he got ready to pull the trigger. In his defence it had been chucking it down most of the day and it was rather slippy. Samson's indecision almost let in County at the other end before he reckoned coming out was the correct option and he collected Scott Boyd's header with ease. The opening quarter of an hour was livened up slightly when Goodwin clattered Brittain late and got himself a booking.
If the first quarter of an hour was dull the second was even worse. We did nothing up front - save for Steven Craig checking his goalie was still awake when he blootered the ball at him from 30 yards - while County did look more attacking but failed to carve out any real chances. Once again we were far too slow and deliberate against lower league opposition - waiting for gaps to open up that rarely threatened to. One of the few highlights was some of Teale's passes - or attempted passes - which were at least a bit more direct even if they didn't always work.
Samson had looked a bit indecisive every time he had to deal with something and he was caught again just before the break. Brittain slid the ball through to Stuart Kettlewell and it was then a battle to see who would reach the ball first. The pair seemed to get there at the same time, Samson slid in with his hands and the officials decided it was a penalty. Can't say one way or the other from my view but Brittain wasn't arguing as he rattled it home to give County a deserved lead.
The smart money then would have been on County capitalising on their advantage but instead they were nearly behind by the break. Finally stung into action a lethargic Saints side started playing with a bit more urgency. McGowan played the ball to David van Zanten wide on the right and his cross was headed home by Steven Thompson to bring us level just three minutes after going behind. And no sooner had County taken kick-off than we were on the attack again, McGowan testing Michael Fraser with a 25-yarder that he palmed away. If we'd played with that directness for the previous 40 minutes or so we'd have been a couple of goals up at the break rather than being lucky to be level.
Things needed to change and they did with Nigel Hasselbaink and Steven Thomson sent on for Teale and Mooy. A rather strange change considering Teale had been having a decent game but at least we now had two proper strikers. However, it didn't have the desired effect as we returned to playing the way we had before County's penalty, a few dangerous crosses flying across Samson's goal before Iain Vigurs tried his luck and blasted over from 20 yards or so. They then showed how you're supposed to pass your way through a team, a great move putting McMenamin clean through before Jeroen Tesselaar arrived at the last minute to put in a lunging tackle and stop the shot going near goal.
It took 20 minutes for a Saints chance to arrive, McGowan pouncing on a loose ball before driving forward to the edge of the box and sending a curling effort just wide. That wasn't the end of the fun and games as he wasn't impressed with Kettlewell's attempts to halt his run early. The pair, along with a complaining Gary Miller, were booked for their silliness. It was then back to our turn for more stupidity at the back which let County put together another good move, meeting a rather familiar end when Corcoran ran onto the final pass and then smacked it into the stand. Vigurs was rather closer a few minutes later when he volleyed just wide from the edge of the box. Only one team looked like scoring a second - and it wasn't us.
We get lots of plaudits and praise for our passing football but we were being taught a lesson in how to be passing and effective. Just over 15 minutes from the end another sweeping County move saw Kettlewell put in a cross that McMenamin headed off target. Carey was deemed fit enough to be put into action after that as he replaced Barron. Having someone who could take a set-piece well almost paid instant dividends, Thompson volleying wide from Carey's free-kick. It was just a blip though and there was another huge left off when McMenamin raced onto a through ball before shooting wide after McAusland did just enough to put him off. It was the striker's last involvement as he and Craig were replaced by Kurtis Byrne and Sam Morrow.
Another Saints set-piece brought another chance, Carey stinging the palms of Fraser after Hasselbaink had been pushed over. Viguirs got himself a booking when he decided to blast the ball into Vanzy's face after the defender had been brought down - Vanzy bizarrely getting booked for having the cheek to react angrily to this! In stoppage time he tried to score the winner as a bit of a stramash in the box saw him have a few shots blocked, with a couple of other efforts also blocked for good measure.
From that scramble County broke, Corcoran gleefully charging into the space van Zanten would have been in an then charging from one end of the park to the other before being sent to the ground by Lee Mair. Despite Corcoran's tendency to fall over when the wind changes it looked a penalty to me and ref Bobby Madden agreed. To compound the misery it would be two former Saints that would send us out, Brittain getting ready to take the penalty kick after Corcoran had won it. But in front if his own supporters Britain blasted it about as high as you can into one of our stands and we had ourselves a Valentine's replay in Dingwall. It was a shocking miss as in that situation you must at least hit the target.
We do not deserve to still be in the cup but we are. We have been given a second chance and let's hope in 10 days time we take it - although if we play like we did today there's no chance of that.
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