| Date | Tuesday, 19 February 2019 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish Cup |
| Fixture/Score | Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2:2 Ross County |
| Venue | Caledonian Stadium |
| Attendance | 3,608 |
| Referee | John Beaton |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the BBC. Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2 Ross County 2 Loss 5-4 on Penalties after Extra Time. Inverness CT will visit Dundee United in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals after beating Ross County on penalties. Caley Thistle twice fought back from a goal down in the replay with Jordan White scoring on both occasions. Ross Stewart had headed County in front and Michael Gardyne fired their second. Carl Tremarco hit the County bar in extra-time and Declan McManus's spot-kick miss proved crucial as Inverness prevailed 5-4 in the shootout, Nathan Austin converting the winner. Stewart and Josh Mullin had troubled Inverness in the first tie, the pair scoring equalisers in the 2-2 draw, and Mullin set up the opening goal for the Championship leaders. Mullin was also denied by goalkeeper Mark Ridgers at 1-0 and County counterpart Scott Fox produced similar heroics to touch Liam Polworth's effort on to the post shortly before White's first equaliser - a header from Joe Chalmers' cross. Gardyne controlled a high ball and evaded challenges before driving past Ridgers but again Inverness came back at their visitors with Polworth setting up White to slide the ball beyond Fox. Austin came close to settling the tie in added time and Tremarco went even closer when he hit the frame of the goal in the 116th minute. The eight yellow cards brandished by referee John Beaton took the total bookings in Highland derbies this season to 25, Inverness defender Coll Donaldson and County left-back Kenny van der Weg cautioned late in extra-time after clashing off the ball. Penalties ensued and all but one of the kicks were converted, McManus denied by Ridgers midway through the shootout and Austin held his nerve to maintain Caley Thistle's hopes of winning the trophy they claimed in 2015. The first board meeting of the newly formed Inverness Caledonian Thistle was held in the city 25 years ago this weekend. Invariably there has been a lot of looking back about what the club has achieved in that quarter of a century. Plenty of glorious chapters have been written. Manager John Robertson says the class of 2019 must believe they can write another, and why not? Tonight they showed the character and guts that have come to characterise Caley Jags sides of old, and it's well documented what some of them went on to achieve. If they can do that again, at Tannadice in the quarter-finals on 3 March, then another trip to Hampden awaits - and who knows what could happen after that? Inverness CT manager John Robertson: "We had the better of the game, we had the better chances. We've hit the post, we've hit the bar. There's two off the line in the last minute. Scott Fox has produced a wonder save. "We have been horrendous at penalties this season. We practised them yesterday. We actually had the players taking penalties from 15 yards out because if they can score from 15 yards, they can certainly score from 12 and all five of them scored." Ross County co-manager Steven Ferguson: "Proud of our team. It was a great cup tie and when it goes to penalties, it becomes that little bit of a lottery and somebody has to miss and it happens to be us. We accept it and we move on. "It's always disappointing to lose the lead. When it's a cup tie like that, it's to-ing and fro-ing all the time and we could've scored again and Caley could've scored again. As far as a cup tie goes, I think everything was squeezed into that." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Steven Ferguson Stuart Kettlewell |
| Starting 11 | 0: Scott Fox, 2: Marcus Fraser, 6: Ross Draper 1, 7: Michael Gardyne 1 1, 9: Billy Mckay, 12: Andrew Boyle, 14: Joshua Mullin, 15: Keith Watson, 16: Lewis Spence, 27: Ross Stewart 1, 28: Kenny Van der Weg 1 |
| Bench | 21: Ross Munro, 8: Jamie Lindsay, 10: Declan Mcmanus, 19: Brian Graham, 43: James Wallace, 44: Tom Grivosti, 46: Jack Murray |
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | |
| Manager | John Robertson |
| Starting 11 | Mark Ridgers, Brad Mckay, Coll Donaldson 1, Jamie McCart, Carl Tremarco 1, Joe Chalmers, Sean Welsh, Liam Polworth, Aaron Doran 1, Tom Walsh, Jordan White 2 1 |
| Bench | Cammy Mackay, Shaun Rooney, Darren McCauley, Nathan Austin, Anthony Mcdonald 1, Charlie Trafford, Kevin McHattie |