David Martindale praised the impact of his substitutes as Livingston caused one of the shocks of the William Hill Scottish Cup fourth round as they defeated Ross County 3-2 in Dingwall.
Andrew Shinnie linked up with a cross from Meshack Ubochioma in the 119th minute to score the winner and send the Championship outfit into the fifth round of the competition at the expense of their Premiership opponents.
Martindale praised how his substitutes came off the bench to make the difference and secure a big win for Livingston.
“Meshack put in a great ball in and Shinnie did well to steer it into the net,” he said.
“We spoke about getting Shinnie on as a nine, his movement is clever and he is a huge goal threat.
“The subs were brought on at the right time and we deserved to go through.”
Robbie Muirhead put Livingston ahead at the stroke of half-time from the penalty spot but Jordan White levelled for Ross County 10 minutes after the break.
Cristian Montano put Livingston back in front on the hour mark but Ronan Hale levelled for County to force the game into extra-time, with Shinnie’s late effort sending Livingston through.
Martindale said the significance of Livingston winning at the Global Energy Stadium was huge given Ross County’s form at home this season.
“Take away the Old Firm games, Ross County have a good home record and they have a habit of scoring late winners against us and we have a habit of scoring late winners against them.
“I think we deserved to go through to the next round. There was not a lot in the game, we tried to get the ball down and land on the second contact.
“It was a tough game and the boys put in a big shift to get into the next round. I thought they were brilliant.”
Ross County manager Don Cowie says it was a huge opportunity missed to progress to the next round as the Staggies’ wait for a win in the Scottish Cup now stretches to six years.
He said: “You speak about the Scottish Cup and getting a home draw against a team in the level below us. It is an opportunity to get into the next round and we didn’t grasp it.
“We didn’t want to be in the position we were, but we managed to get back twice and that is the invitation to win the game.
“But what you don’t do when it gets in late as the game as it does is concede a goal. I take responsibility that we shouldn’t have conceded a goal so late.”
“To get into the next round of the Scottish Cup you have to earn it and we didn’t earn it.
“It wasn’t through the lack of effort but just in terms of doing the right things relentlessly, playing the conditions and making Livingston defend, we didn’t do enough.
“Livingston did a lot of things really well and credit to them.”
