Date	Saturday, 05 January 2002
Competition	Scottish Cup
Fixture/Score	Heart of Midlothian 2:1 Ross County
Venue	Tynecastle Park
Attendance	9,697
Referee	Kevin Toner
Comments	Match Report Report by Paul Third for the Press & Journal. Heart of Midlothian 2 Ross County 1 The Ross County players earned praise from both managers--despite making their Scottish Cup exit at Tynecastle. County boss Neale Cooper said: "We were 1-0 down and a silly mistake cost us the second crucial goal. Richard Hastings played a poor pass straight to Fulton and 10 seconds later it was 2-0. But, to our credit, we kept going and 2-1 is not an embarrassment by any means. We had a couple of good chances but we let ourselves down in the final third. Defensively, we were very good. "We know that Hearts ace Ricardo Fuller can punish teams, but I thought Mark Perry was outstanding at sweeper." Now County can concentrate in staying in the First Division and Cooper has called on his Players to prove they are good enough. He Added: "Our league form has been very disappointing and, while we haven't looked out of place in the cup competitions, we have let ourselves down in the league." Hearts started well and the visitors had keeper Tony Bullock to thank. Bullock's first save came in the 15th minute when he brilliantly tipped Gary Wales's blistering effort from 16 yards over the bar. He then parried Fuller's close-range shot after Flogel had played the Jamaican in on goal. Fortune favoured Bullock as Flogel blasted the loose ball over the bar from eight yards. With County forced to counter-attack, Karim Boukraa wasted their best chance of the first half just before half-time. Roddy McKenzie's attempted clearance fell at Boukraa's feet. But, with an empty goal at his mercy, the Frenchman seemed to panic, missing the ball completely, and the Hearts defence cleared. Hearts netted the opener six minutes into the second half. Substitute Stephen Simmons, who had replaced Thomas Flogel, won the ball in midfield and passed to Fuller. The Jamaican drove past Perry to fire the ball past Bullock from the edge of the box. With County pushing for an equaliser, Hastings's error proved costly as the home side added their second goal. The Canadian international was careless with a pass to Steve Ferguson and Steve Fulton easily intercepted before looking up and playing Fuller in on goal. The Hearts striker made no mistake, firing the ball low past Bullock in a carbon copy of his first goal. It took the Jamaican star's tally to eight goals this season--seven in the last six games. County refused to give up and their travelling support was rewarded when Perry netted in the final minute. Don Cowie out swinging corner was headed down by Ian Maxwell and Perry calmly turned to fire the ball past McKenzie from six yards. Hearts boss Craig Levein was wholesome in his praise for Cooper's side and admitted he was relieved to make it to the fourth round. Hearts will play the winners of the Arbroath versus Caley Thistle tie. Lavein said: "Their keeper had two wonderful saves but Ross County didn't give up and the plaudits must go to them. They were organised and worked hard throughout the game, pushing us all the way. "If you look at the defence of Ross County, they have Brian Irvine and Mark Perry, who are two vastly experienced players. They know how to play that position and it was always going to be difficult. Having tasted defeat up at Dingwall earlier in the season, we are aware of the problems they can cause. I can't praise my players highly enough for their efforts in recent weeks."
Ross County
Manager	Neale Cooper
Starting 11	1: Anthony (Tony) Bullock, 2: Mark Perry 1, 3: Ian Maxwell 1, 4: Richard Hastings, 5: Hugh Robertson, 6: Brian Irvine, 7: Steven Ferguson, 8: Cedric Anselin, 9: Mark McCormick, 10: Karim Boukraa, 11: Alexander Bone
Bench	0: Ramiro Gonzalez, 0: Don (JNR) Cowie, 0: Martin Prest, 0: Steven Hislop 1, 0: Conor Gethins
Heart of Midlothian
Manager	Craig Levein
Starting 11	Roddy McKenzie, Andy Webster, Steven Pressley, Kevin McKenna, Stephane Mahe, Alan Maybury, Steve Fulton, Tommi Gronlund, Thomas Flogel, Ricardo Fuller 2, Gary Wales
Bench	Craig Gordon, Stephen Simmons, Scott Severin, Andy Kirk, Steven Boyack