Ross County 1 - 0 Dunfermline
Substitute Raffaele De Vita hit the winner to earn Ross County a place in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup in a battling replay victory over Dunfermline at Global Energy Stadium.
Substitute Raffaele De Vita hit the winner to earn Ross County a place in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup in a battling replay victory over Dunfermline at Global Energy Stadium.
De Vita stuck with 15 minutes left of an evenly-contested cup tie with a fine finish which gave Pars' goalkeeper Sean Murdoch no chance.
The 1-0 victory means County will now face the winners of the Linlithgow Rose-Forfar Athletic replay in the next round.
Dunfermline threatened in the first minute when Faissal El Bakhtaoui got behind the County defence and his cross fell for Joe Cardle but his shot was blocked by Marcus Fraser.
At the other end Michael Gardyne slipped the ball through to Stewart Murdoch but his low drive was parried by Sean Murdoch and Ben Richards-Everton headed behind for a corner.
County's Jonathan Franks did well to get into a shooting position in the 12th minute but his goal-bound shot was cleared for a corner by Shaun Rooney.
Franks was looking dangerous making runs down the right and his deep cross to the far post in the 28th minute was just too high for Brian Graham.
County won a free-kick on the edge of the box a minute later. Franks' delivery was partially cleared before falling for Graham inside the six-yard box, but he shot well over the crossbar.
El Bakhtaoui forced a save from Scott Fox in the 36th minute after Jason Talbot slipped the ball through to him as the first half finished goalless.
County had chance right at the start of the second period when Alex Schalk played in Fraser but he ballooned his shot over from the edge of the six-yard box.
There was little between the teams and Dunfermline midfielder Michael Paton took a snap-shot from the edge of the area which failed to trouble Fox before, at the other end, Schalk lobbed the ball to the far post only for visiting defender Brad McKay to get there first to head behind.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 70th minute when Gardyne's cross from the right took one bounce on its way through to half-time replacement De Vita who hammered the ball into the far corner of the net.
Dunfermline piled on the pressure in the final stages but the County defence held firm to book their place in the next round.