Ross County boss Jim McIntyre is pleased with cup progression

County finished behind Hibernian on goal difference in Group D after beating Arbroath 5-4 on penalties.

Published 30th Jul 2017

Ross County manager Jim McIntyre was satisfied with Scottish League Cup progression despite being held to a goalless draw at Arbroath.

County finished behind Hibernian on goal difference in Group D after beating Arbroath 5-4 on penalties at Gayfield but a place in the second round as one of the four best runners-up was assured even before the spot-kicks started.

McIntyre said: "We obviously wanted to win the group and had some glorious chances to win it but we found a goalkeeper (David Hutton) in very good form. He made a couple of unbelievable saves in the second half.

"Arbroath came into it in the last 20 minutes and put us under pressure. The wind was a problem all day and it is a real spoiler when it is blowing like that here. It makes it difficult but we still created good chances to take the lead and we didn't take them.

"As long as it remains 0-0 then the opposition have a chance and you could see they got a bit of belief from a bit of pressure, although Scott Fox didn't have a save to make really in the 90 minutes.

"We always fancied Foxy in the penalties that he will pull one or two off. The bonus point was nice. We had four games. We are unbeaten and not conceded any goals and scored eight, so there are a lot of positives there.''

Arbroath boss Dick Campbell said: "Ross County, as you would expect, had more possession than we had and they look a good side. You need to be more than six foot to get into their team but it was a good exercise for us from a fitness point of view.''