A cold day at the New Douglas Park ended in victory for underdogs Hamilton Academical as they beat Ross County 5-3 on penalties after a 0-0 draw in 120 minutes.
It was bottom of the Championship against bottom of the Premiership in Lanarkshire as Hamilton and Ross County competed for a place in the Scottish Cup Last 16.
The Staggies started the brightest, with Kazeem Oliagbe forcing Accies Goalkeeper Ryan Fulton into action after just two minutes with a 25-yard effort which went down the keepers throat.
Eight minutes in Ross County had their best chance of the 90 minutes as Yan Dhanda worked the ball into a dangerous position with a low cross from the right side of the pitch. However, Jordy Hiwula's tame effort from 6 yards out was tipped behind by the ever present Fulton.
Dhanda was causing Hamilton problems again and fifteen minutes in twisted and turned inside the 18-yard box with his cut back to Owura Edwards flying over the bar from an area he will feel he should do better in. Ross County chances and corners then started to die out as they never struck whilst the iron was hot.
Half way into the first half, Hamilton found their best chance of 90 minutes as after some good link up play Ross Laidlaw had to get low to block Jean-Pierre Tiehi's effort and turn it behind for a corner, which came to nothing.
An otherwise relatively quiet first half saw Tom Sparrow be the first into the referee's book after stopping a Ross County counter-attack.
Malky Mackay went to his bench to look for a solution, as on-loan Nohan Kennah never returned to play, being replaced by Canadian Victor Loturi.
Ross Callachan then became the first Ross County player to receive a yellow card fifty minutes in, as he fouled Andy Winter. The away side ramped up the pressure as they looked for the opener, but to no avail as Fulton stopped the afore-mentioned Callachan when he drove one towards the goal. Sixty minutes in and Callachan was involved again, this time his header forcing Ryan Fulton into a reflex save to stop the ball crossing the line.
Jordan White then replaced Hiwula up top for Ross County as Mackay used his bench yet again and six minutes later Chrissy McGinn was replaced by Brian Easton for Hamilton as he withdrew with muscle tightness. William Akio and David Cancola were Ross County's other substitutes inside ninety-minutes, replacing Callachan and Edwards.
Hamilton brought on Andy Ryan and Dario Zanatta before the end of the ninety, with Jean-Pierre Tiehi and Lewis Smith coming off.
The home side came closest late on, as Accies midfielder Lucas De Bolle sent an effort flying towards goal from 20-yards with 5 minutes left, only for Ross Laidlaw to tip it over the crossbar.
Extra-time saw Matthew Shiels booked for fouling William Akio, who moments later had an effort go agonisingly close as Ryan Fulton was kept busy.
Connor Randall made two-a-piece in terms of yellow cards when he fouled Zanatta and Dario Zanatta then came the closest either team came to the opener, with his header beating Ross Laidlaw only to hit the right post.
As the two teams headed towards penalties, Josh Sims replaced Oliagbe for Ross County. Neither team could break the deadlock and the tie would be determined by penalties.
Ross County found themselves in immediate trouble, as after Zanatta scored his, Jordan White was stopped by the brilliant Ryan Fulton. As the penalties went on, Winter, McGowan and Martin all scored for Accies whilst Ross County replied through Loturi, Cancola and Akio, which left Andy Ryan in a position that if he scored Hamilton would advance.
Ryan stepped up and made it 5-3 on penalties, much to the jubilance of the home support.
Hamilton Academical made it three consecutive wins in three different competitions as they embark on a difficult league trip to Firhill to play Partick Thistle. Meanwhile, Ross County play Kilmarnock in another must-win league game as they fight against the drop.
Malky Mackay thought his Ross County side "in general, were excellent".
"The first half, it should have been out of sight."
Winning manager John Rankin, has hopes that the momentum will have a positive impact on his teams upcoming tough league run-in.
"We have Partick Thistle next week and we're already preparing for that."
"Our players did between 16 and 18 kilometres this afternoon, so we need to look after them this week and make sure that they're ready to go again next week."
Goalkeeper and Man of the Match Ryan Fulton had his say, he wants "the big two" for Hamilton as he's looking forward to coming up against one of the countries best.
Comments