Ross County boss Jim McIntyre pleased with players' response to Betfred Cup exit
Ross County manager Jim McIntyre was delighted to see a positive reaction from his players after the holders responded to being bundled out of the Betfred Cup in midweek with a 7-0 rout of Cove Rangers on Saturday.
Brian Graham struck a hat-trick as a comfortable victory rounded off an otherwise disappointing cup campaign, their fate having been sealed by a 3-2 loss at Alloa on Tuesday.
Alex Schalk opened the scoring for the hosts in the 24th minute before being on the receiving end of a wild challenge which earned Mitch Megginson a red card 12 minutes later.
And County went to town after the break, scoring six goals without reply against the Highland League champions. Schalk doubled his personal tally, with Craig Curran also adding a brace to go along with Graham's treble.
McIntyre said: ''We started the game really well, and even before they went down to 10 men we created plenty of chances. It was just a matter of us being more ruthless. We produced some great finishes and it's good to see all the strikers on the scoresheet. I'm especially delighted for Craig Curran. That will do his confidence the world of good. Brian also scored a fantastic hat-trick. But I was delighted with them all because it was important that we produced a response to what was a poor defence of the cup. I told the players they needed to put a smile back on people's faces because we had a lot to make up for after Tuesday and we took a wee step towards doing that.''
Cove boss John Sheran was not convinced about Megginson's dismissal, saying: ''I don't think it was a sending-off. It was disappointing. We were just trying to stay in the game at that stage. I thought for the first 45 minutes we did really well. They boys kept battling away. It has been a good experience and for the most part we played really well. But when you play against better teams and you get tired, they just pick you off.''