IT was perhaps to be expected that with Michael O’Neill in attendance this Scottish Cup tie was settled by a controversial penalty kick.

The Northern Irishman, the preferred choice as Scotland manager and whom the Scottish Football Association hope to receive a positive response to their offer soon, will most certainly have seen better games, but one can only hope he didn’t depart Rugby Park early as the dramatic conclusion was a worthy ending to any cup clash.

O’Neill’s dream of Russia next summer with Northern Ireland was ended by a penalty decision universally condemned, and while the award that knocked out Owen Coyle’s side out wasn’t as definite, try telling that to the Ross County manager.

Two minutes from time, referee Bobby Madden adjudged Tim Chow to have shoved Rory McKenzie as the Kilmarnock player attempted to a latch on to a lofted ball into the penalty area and the English-born Taiwanese saw red while the Bellshill-born Erwin then tucked his spot kick into the bottom-left corner.

“Listen, Bobby Madden is one of our better referees, but that’s never a penalty and then to compound it by sending the lad off is the bit that’s hard to take,” said Coyle. “It’s disappointing that’s what has beaten you in the game because I can accept top corners and 30-yard volleys and you hold your hand up and say that’s real quality but when it’s taken out of your hands by an uncontrollable, as that was, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”

Perhaps surprisingly, even Kilmarnock manager Steve Clarke quipped “it wisnae (a penalty)”. However, he was more willing to sing the praises of Erwin, who has started only twice since his appointment in October but who showed guts to pick up the ball and take the award after coming on with 17 minutes left as part of a double substitution during which regular strikers Kris Boyd and Eamonn Brophy left the field.

“[I'm] delighted for him,” said Clarke. “Hopefully that will kick start things for Lee in the second half of the season and he’ll do better than the first half.”

Clarke added of Erwin’s willingness to grab the ball when regular take Boyd was off the field: “He’s a goalscorer. They just think about getting a hold of the ball and with Boyd off the pitch, it’s good he had the confidence to take the ball.”

It was a game both managers admitted won’t live long in the memory – the first effort on goal in the second half didn’t arrive until the 66th minute.

“[It] wasn’t a game for the purists,” said Coyle, while Clarke called it “a war of attrition”, but Erwin’s moment of glory was nearly quashed in injury time, when Ross County goalkeeper Aaron McCarey came up for a corner and had his header clutched right on the line by opposite number Jamie Macdonald.

Coyle, however, admitted he wasn’t sure whether it had crossed the line, despite McCarey’s vehement protests before and after the final whistle.

For Scotland’s sake, one hopes the drama at the end though was enough for O’Neill, accompanied at Rugby Park by Stevie Frail, a Scot in charge of the Northern Ireland Under-19 and Under 17 manager, to come back for from a Scottish perspective rather than merely a trip to watch Kilmarnock’s Northern Ireland international Jordan Jones.