St Mirren 1 Inverness CT 1

Steven Thompson's return from injury failed to inspire St Mirren to victory in their William Hill Scottish Cup clash with Inverness as they were forced to accept a 1-1 draw.

Skipper Thompson, back after three months on the sidelines with a groin injury, played a part in Marc McAusland's early opener at St Mirren Park.

But the Buddies could not hold on as Caley Thistle set up a fourth-round replay on Tuesday with Josh Meekings' leveller 19 minutes into the second half.

Thompson's last appearance in black and white was a League Cup win over Dunfermline at the end of August. The Paisley outfit have had little to celebrate since - with just two wins in the 12 games that followed.

A crowd of just 1,957 summed up the Renfrewshire public's frustrations but they greeted the return of the former Scotland hitman. But the 36-year-old looked rusty for most of the 75 minutes he was given as St Mirren were forced to accept a return trip to the Highlands in midweek.

While Saints sit joint bottom of the Scottish Premiership table, John Hughes' Inverness side are flying high, level at the top with Celtic. There was not much between the teams in the opening stages, although Saints did have to work harder to maintain the status quo.

Their labour paid off though as they took lead after 17 minutes. David Raven misplaced his headed back pass to Dean Brill and from the corner he gave away, Caley Thistle switched off. Thompson got a foot to Kenny McLean's delivery but saw it squirt wide to Jason Naismith.

Thompson wanted the ball back but the right-back picked out McAusland, who angled his side-foot effort past Brill from close range. For all that Caley had of the ball, they made little use of it. Raven shot wide for the visitors soon after they went behind, while James Vincent sent a tame shot into Saints stopper Mark Ridgers' arms.

Saints were still having to graft to maintain their lead but it was worthwhile effort. They almost had a second as McLean's volley from a Thompson knock down flew just wide after 29 minutes.

Ryan Christie had a great chance to level for the Highlanders with four minutes of the first half left, but got the ball trapped under his feet before scooping wide from 10 yards out.

Naismith was again the creator for the hosts early in the second period but Thompson skied his cut back over Brill's bar. Ryan Christie flashed a well-hit dig to the left of Ridgers' goal as Inverness stepped things up, but they needed Raven to do better than fire wide from six yards out after Graeme Shinnie's cross was somehow allowed to find him at the back post.

St Mirren could have done without Ridgers' flapping at Nick Ross' corner on 64 minutes. His decision to come but fail to collect, though, proved costly. Ross Draper had two goes at turning the loose ball home, the second of which hit the post. Christie then tried again but saw Adam Drury clear off the line.

Meekings, though, kept his head down and rifled through a ruck of bodies from 15 yards out to put his side level. Time was called on Thompson's return with quarter of an hour left as he was replaced by Callum Ball.

Draper, shown yellow for a first-half foul on John McGinn, was lucky not to see his match end early too after sliding in hard on Isaac Osbourne. The home side rushed in to demand action from Calum Murray but the referee would not budge.

Billy McKay and Christie had late efforts to win it for the visitors but failed to hit the target.