Ross County were cruelly knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Kilmarnock, who grabbed a late 1-0 victory courtesy of Lee Erwin’s late penalty.
The tie looked to be heading for a replay at Dingwall following a poor contest in Ayrshire, however with just two minutes remaining the hosts were awarded a spot-kick by referee Bobby Madden, with Tim Chow sent-off for hauling Rory McKenzie to the ground, with Erwin making no mistake from 12 yards.
There was little to separate the sides but the result means County must now solely focus on league matters, as they aim to haul themselves off the bottom of the Premiership when they return to action at Motherwell on Wednesday.
County manager Owen Coyle handed a debut to new striker Inih Effiong, who was one of five changes from the side that went down 2-0 at Partick Thistle prior to the winter break. Jim O’Brien, Ross Draper, Kenny van der Weg and Aaron McCarey also came in, with Marcus Fraser, Sean Kelly, Tim Chow, Alex Schalk dropping out, with goalkeeper Scott Fox and attacker Craig Curran ruled out through illness.
County were dealt an early blow just nine minutes in, with Jamie Lindsay forced to limp off after landing heavily in the middle of the park, being replaced by Chow.
Openings were limited for both sides in the early stages, with Draper seeing a header comfortably held Jamie MacDonald. The best early chance fell to Killie however, with a rising strike by Eamonn Brophy from the edge of the box tipped over by McCarey.
Killie kept up the pressure, with sought-after winger Jordan Jones cutting inside Draper before curling a strike wide from 20 yards.
Effiong tried his luck for the first time with an acrobatic overhead kick that flew well over on 24 minutes, however Killie nearly took a bizarre lead 10 minutes later when Rory McKenzie’s cross from the right flank evaded McCarey before bouncing off the inside of McCarey’s post before being cleared.
County spurned a fine breakaway opportunity just before the interval, with Mckay receiving a short pass from Chow before attempting to release Effiong, however the through ball carried too much weight, allowing MacDonald race out and block the Englishman’s advances.
The early second-half minutes produced little by way of goalmouth action, however the Staggies passed up a glaring opportunity to break the deadlock on 65 minutes when van der Weg’s cross set up a free header for fellow full back Jason Naismith, however he steered his effort wide from a fine position.
The decisive moment came on 88 minutes when Chow was shown his marching orders for hauling McKenzie to the deck as he bore down on McCarey’s goal. Killie substitute Erwin sent the penalty low into McCarey’s bottom-rught corner, with the Staggies goalkeeper inches away from getting a touch.
County had a late chance to level when the ball fell to Schalk inside the box, however the Dutchman blazed over the bar as the Dingwall men exited the competition at the first hurdle.
