| Date | Saturday, 04 February 2006 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish Cup |
| Fixture/Score | Falkirk 1:1 Ross County |
| Venue | Brockville |
| Attendance | 3,649 |
| Referee | Craig Thomson |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the BBC. Falkirk 1 Ross County 1 A second-half equaliser from Daniel McBreen spared Falkirk's blushes but the SPL side must now travel to Dingwall for a tough replay. County took the lead after 16 minutes when Don Cowie coolly slotted home after being sent clear by Sean Higgins. McBreen missed a great chance for Falkirk before the break when he pulled his shot wide from eight yards. However, he grabbed the equaliser 11 minutes before the end with a superb finish from a tight angle. Falkirk head coach John Hughes fielded the same team which defeated Livingston last weekend for the visit of Ross County. The Bairns were quickly into their stride and, in the third minute, Pedro Moutinho was sent through by Steven Thomson. But County keeper Stuart Garden did well to block his flicked effort. County, who thrashed Forfar 5-0 in the last round, were by no means overawed by the SPL side's fast start. Higgins and Alex Burke showed enough lively movement in the first 10 minutes to suggest the home defence would have to be sharp to contain them. Indeed, a slip from skipper Craig Ireland on the edge of his box allowed Burke to tee Higgins up and his 20-yard drive whistled just over. The Bairns failed to heed this threat though and, in the 17th minute, midfielder Don Cowie latched onto a Higgins pass to calmly side-foot past Allan Ferguson to put County a goal up. Falkirk were almost level in the 36th minute when Russell Latapy teed up McBreen eight yards out but the striker pulled his shot wide. The game was proving considerably more difficult for the home side than the clubs' only previous meeting in the cup which came in 1975 and resulted in a 5-1 stroll for the Bairns. Falkirk started the second period much more brightly and, three minutes into the half, McBreen swivelled brilliantly on the edge of the box and lashed a superb volley off the bar with Garden rooted to the spot. Four minutes later, County midfielder John Rankin burst forward from the centre of the pitch and thundered a fine strike onto Ferguson's right-hand post. The start of the new half was generally Falkirk's though and, in the 56th minute, Kenny Milne's header was well saved by Garden with Moutinho waiting to pounce on any mistake. The Portuguese striker then wasted a marvellous chance to equalise a minute later when he headed over from just four yards out. County remained a threat on the break however and when the ball deflected into Higgins' path in the 67th minute he was unlucky to see his clever lob land on top, rather than in, the net. Burke then went close to extending his side's lead with a fine drive on 77 minutes which flew narrowly past the post. But two minutes later the home side finally got the equaliser when McBreen tucked the ball home from close range after his initial effort was saved by Garden. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Gardner Spiers |
| Starting 11 | 1: Stuart Garden, 2: Lionel Djebi-Zadi, 3: Neil McDonald 1, 4: James Lauchlan, 5: Sean Webb, 6: John Rankin, 7: Don (JNR) Cowie 1, 8: Kevin McKinlay, 9: Mark McCulloch, 10: Alexander Burke, 11: Sean Higgins |
| Bench | 0: Joseph Malin, 0: David Niven, 0: Fergus Tiernan, 0: Gary McSwegan, 0: David Winters |
| Falkirk | |
| Manager | John Hughes |
| Starting 11 | Allan Ferguson, Craig Ireland, Kenny Milne, Tiago Rodrigues, Jack Ross, Patrick Cregg, Steven O'Donnell 1, Steven Thomson, Russell Latapy, Pedro Moutinho, Daniel McBreen 1 |
| Bench | Mark Howard, Andy Lawrie, Vitor Lima, Alan Gow, Liam Craig |