Saints manage to dig out quarter-final spot

Feb 15 2008

LAST year thousands of Saints fans lapped-up a day in the sun at Hampden for a Scottish Cup semi-final.

Now, they’re just 90 minutes away from gracing the last four again, with home advantage against St Mirren next month.

Victoria Park, Dingwall, might be far removed from the National Stadium but it was a potential stepping stone to more glamorous surroundings. But it’s a step on which many more fancied sides have come to grief in the past.

BBC breakfast telly even scared stay-at-home fans by declaring a one goal win for the Staggies on Thursday morning before being put right by a punter.

It was a trip north made with trepidation after a league defeat in Dumfries. And for some supporters, whose coach conked out around Calvine, the spectacle only stretched over 45 minutes.

By the time they arrived, they’d missed surely one of the most bizarre goals in Scottish Cup history, with Ross County keeper Tony Bullock playing his way into a potential Taxi slot on Soccer AM.

Fifteen minutes in, and Martin Scott rolled a back pass into the 18-yard box with yellow-shirted midfielder Liam Craig seemingly chasing a lost cause. But when the keeper lost his balance and the ball bobbled, Bullock slashed his clearance kick. Somehow he got backspin on it and for a split second must have feared an own goal.

Craig spared him that ignominy, outpacing the panic-stricken goalie to roll home what proved to be the winner before Bullock launched a futile dive to fend off humiliation.

The on-loan Falkirk player was denied credit by the local announcer and triggered Press box debate, with Craig, asked to play on the right, and Andy Jackson now sharing the same hair colour. But the striker will have to wait for goal number 16.

Saints’ performance certainly won’t go down in the annals of cup history for its artistry and fluency but there was no doubting their determination to dig out a result in the Highlands, against a side unbeaten in eight outings.

County’s typically small and nippy offensive players posed problems with their movement but the threat tended to evaporate around the 18-yard box, where Kevin Rutkiewicz and Steven Anderson ensured keeper Alan Main was rarely over exerted.

The one exception came in the 71st minute after a free-kick which made Anderson’s booking inevitable. Dowie rattled the post when the delivery came in and luckily Craig was well placed beneath the crossbar to prevent Shields netting with the follow-up attempt.

County keeper Bullock had denied Peter MacDonald a spectacular opener after five minutes, before his night degenerated. Later he required two attempts to field a long-distance raker, with anxious home fans having palpitations on the terracing behind his net.

Jackson’s star continues to rise. He might have failed to add to his tally after four goals in four games but his robust and mobile approach to his work is attracting attention from higher up the ladder. A handful of SPL managers were in attendance but wisely Derek McInnes has got the 20-year-old’s name on an extended contract.

In particular, one surging attack and 25-yard shot which ripped inches wide won’t have gone unnoticed.

Craig also inched a curling shot past before half-time.

But while Saints didn’t get a chance to relax until they’d seen out three minutes of stoppage time, County boss Derek Adams was off-beam with post-match talk of goalscoring opportunities for a team seemingly destined for a return to the First Division.

With Paul Sheerin and Greig Cameron taking the sting out of the tie and Jackson and Milne prepared to take the ball for a run, Saints were never on the rack again after riding their luck with 20 minutes between them and the quarter finals.

Ross County: Bullock, Miller, Golabek, Dowie, Keddie, Brady (Lawson 58), Scott, Higgins, Shields (Petrie 82), Barrowman and Strachan. Subs not used: Malin, Boyd and Moore.

St Johnstone: Main, Irvine, Stanic (McManus 80), Cameron, Rutkiewicz, Anderson, Milne (Weatherston 89), Craig, Jackson, MacDonald (Moon 64) and Sheerin. Subs not used: Cuthbert and McCluskey.

Referee: William Collum.