Dunfermline will take their place in this evening’s draw for the fifth round of the William Hill Scottish Cup after a frenetic fourth round encounter with County.
While the Pars can take maximum credit for achieving a draw against their Premiership opponents, few who witnessed this dramatic East End Park encounter would have begrudged them what would have been a fully deserved victory.
In the end it was the mere width of the crossbar which prevented the Fifers from taking their second Premiership scalp of the season, Faissal El Bakhtaoui’s 88th minute shot rattling the woodwork and providing a lifeline for an off-colour Staggies side who will host tomorrow’s replay at Victoria Park.
The match provided an afternoon of contrasting emotions for Dunfermline central defender Brad McKay, making his debut for the club after joining on loan from St Johnstone on Friday.
With the scores balanced at 1-1 after a high octane first half hour, McKay mistimed his challenge on County’s Dutch striker Alex Schalk, providing Brian Graham with the opportunity to put the visitors ahead for the second time.
He atoned for his error, though, 11 minutes into the second half when he sent a powerful header past Scott Fox to restore parity.
“Apart from maybe getting sent off, there’s nothing worse on your debut than conceding a penalty” said McKay.
“I felt I’d let the boys down but hopefully I made amends with the header. That’s the sort of thing you hope to do after making a mistake like that.”
McKay’s celebrations in the wake of the equaliser illustrated the extent of his relief and, having been out of the first team picture at his parent club for a while, is now hoping to gain valuable game time at Dunfermline and, quite possibly, find himself picking up a League One championship medal at the end of the season.
“One of the main attractions in coming here was to play for a winning team” he said. “The quality’s there as we showed today and we had Ross County on the ropes for long spells in the second half. Dingwall will be a tough place to go to on Tuesday but I think we can match them.”
Things looked bleak for the Pars when they conceded the opener after only four minutes, Schalk latching on to Graham’s through ball before dispatching a crisp low shot beyond Sean Murdoch.
The home side’s response was swift, El Bakhtaoui equalising with a fine individual effort, shrugging off three challenges before crashing his shot into the net for his 19th goal of the season.
Graham’s penalty restored County’s lead before McKay levelled the scores and a late attacking onslaught from Dunfermline almost resulted in a winning goal.
“It must have been an exciting game to watch” said Pars boss Allan Johnston. “The players responded well to falling behind twice. They gave everything and showed great character to come back the way they did.”