Dunfermline defender Brad McKay secured a William Hill Scottish Cup replay with a second half equaliser after giving away a penalty as the Pars fought out a compelling 2-2 draw with Ross County.
The centre-half, who only joined on loan from St Johnstone 24 hours earlier, found the net with a header after the break to make up for conceding the spot-kick which was scored by Brian Graham in the first half.
County went ahead after three minutes through Alex Schalk but Dunfermline restored parity with a fantastic effort from Faissal El Bakhtaoui.
Graham restored the Staggies' lead in the 27th minute from 12 yards, despite being involved in an off-the-ball incident with Jason Talbot in the build-up to the penalty.
However, former Hearts defender McKay ensured that this tie will be decided in Dingwall after netting the equaliser for the home side.
County were quick out of the blocks and Schalk's goal set the tone for a rip-roaring first half. The Dutchman latched on to a pass from Graham inside the area and squeezed a shot past Pars goalkeeper Sean Murdoch at his near post.
But, after wasting a handful of chances, Allan Johnston's side levelled in the 15th minute with a stunning solo effort from El Bakhtaoui. The French-Moroccan raced onto Joe Cardle's pass and sped away from Marcus Fraser and Scott Boyd before firing a shot high into the net.
The home side had their tails up at this stage as they set about trying to score a second. Cardle misfit a shot wide from just inside the area in a move that involved El Bakhtaoui but Dunfermline shot themselves in the foot in the 27th minute.
With the home fans already upset by what appeared to be an off-the-ball incident involving Graham and Talbot, McKay gave away a penalty when he caught Schalk inside the box. Graham slammed the spot-kick into the net from 12 yards.
The second half was just as frantic and after El Bakhtaoui saw a volley strike the post, McKay rose high to head in Michael Paton's corner in the 56th minute.
The Pars had the wind in their sails but Josh Falkingham stopped County extending their lead to 3-1 by keeping out Andrew Davies' header on the line.
Paton then missed a great chance from four yards before El Bakhtaoui crashed an effort off the top of the bar as Dunfermline came within inches of winning the tie.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here