Ross County 1-3 Inverness CT: Visitors fight back to win Highland derby

Second-half goals from Daniel MacKay and Shane Sutherland sealed a Highland derby triumph for Inverness CT over Ross County in the third round of the Scottish Cup.

Ross County had led through Billy Mckay's header in the first meeting between these pair in nearly two years.

But they were pegged back instantly by Nikolay Todorov, before MacKay's solo goal put the visitors in control.

And Sutherland booked Inverness' place in the next round late on.

They will learn their opponents in Sunday's draw.

• Reaction & as it happened

Two years since their last meeting, it felt like two years worth of derbies were crammed into 90 minutes.

Inverness started brightly and for the first 15 minutes looked like they were going to a handful. But their initial sparkle died down, both defences got on top, and for a while long-range pot shots were the biggest threat from either side.

But, in an enthralling 43 seconds, the derby roared back to life.

A superb corner from Stephen Kelly was difficult to defend and Mckay bulleted home Oli Shaw's flick-on.

But almost instantly it was 1-1. Todorov made it four goals in eight games when he was given space in the box and rifled home through a gap.

After trailing, Inverness got themselves in front through a fine solo goal from MacKay. The 19-year-old midfielder latched onto a long ball down the left, darted inside the defender, and finished confidently past the goalkeeper.

And the visitors, despite being a division below their hosts, continued to dominate. Todorov miscued a shot inside the box after a neat through ball from Scott Allan. But they could not initially find a third which gave hope to the visitors.

Jordan White headed just past the post for County, Brad McKay had to divert away a dangerous ball across goal, and Charlie Lakin fired just over.

But Sutherland finished off their chances when County defended a free-kick poorly, and he took full advantage to spin and hammer home into the far corner.

County could have set up a grandstand finish but no-one could get the ball over the line from a goal mouth scramble as their cup dreams ended.

Inverness CT manager Neil McCann: "That's as good a team performance as you're likely to see. It needed to be against a Premiership side but I thought we were comfortable.

"The character they've shown in the past wee while was evident. I thought the shape was brilliant tonight, was really hard to break down, and we scored two great goals [in the second half].

"We're starting to pick up momentum. You can see the belief starting to grow in the group."