Too little too late as Caley Thistle fall short in North of Scotland Cup final
North of Scotland Cup Final
Scorers: County: Kelly (65) Dykes (73, 83) ICT: Gunn (85) Trafford (86)
Ross County 3
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2
INVERNESS Caledonian Thistle left it too late to rescue their hopes of winning the North of Scotland Cup final after going down to Ross County in a five-goal thriller.
The first half may have been a dull affair but the game exploded into life after the hour mark as the Staggies were left hanging on after taking a three goal lead.
County broke the deadlock in the 65th minute when Tom Kelly connected with a James Wallace cross from the left wing to fire a shot into the top left corner of the net from 12 yards.
The Dingwall side doubled their advantage eight minutes later from the penalty spot when Ross MacIver was taken down in the box by goalkeeper Daniel Hoban.
Dylan Dykes kept his composure from 12 yards with a calm finish into the bottom left corner of the net leaving the goalkeeper flat footed.
Dykes scored his second six minutes from the end after being set up by MacIver in the box which appeared to wrap things up.
But with four minutes remaining ICT managed to reduce the deficit to one with Wick teenager Ross Gunn pulling one back with a thunderous effort into the top left corner before Canadian internationalist Charlie Trafford headed a Jack Brown corner into the net from close range to make it 3-2.
ICT almost forced the game into extra time when Nathan Austin forced a great save from Ross Munro who prevented the striker's powerful shot from finding the bottom right corner of the net.
