With only around 14 miles between Inverness and Dingwall, these two clubs are hard to separate at the best of times.

It will take a replay tonight to belatedly pull them apart in the William Hill Scottish Cup, the initial tie having united the sides during a dramatic final five minutes which yielded three goals but no place in the fifth round.

The introduction of the Highland rivalry to the Clydesdale Bank Premier League has brought a new slant to derby entertainment, to the extent that meetings between Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Ross County have been affectionately dubbed 'El Kessoko'. Their first meeting in the Premier League proved to be reasonably one-sided – Inverness triumphed at home 3-1 – but even that has not been enough to foster expectation of cup progress. The sides will come together inside the Caledonian Stadium again tonight but neither have allowed themselves to admit to feeling anything other than anticipation.

That might be explained away as a sign of respect between neighbours, but the sentiment carries greater weight when it comes from Aaron Doran. The Inverness winger scored the third goal to cap that league win in October and has also helped to influence his side's rise into second place in the league table, his form earning him the Young Player of the Month award for November.

County have enjoyed relative success, too, in keeping their heads above the relegation zone for much of the season but Doran does not believe the gap that exists between the clubs in the table is reflective of their strengths. Indeed, the winger would not be surprised were their latest meeting to prove just as dramatic as it did 10 days ago.

"The two derbies so far have been brilliant to play in. I can't wait," said Doran. "I get a bit nervous before the game but once I get out there it's a great feeling. The crowd and stadium is buzzing. We think we can and, if we keep playing the way we are, we will.

"We probably will be favourites at the moment because of our form, but it's a cup game and anything can happen. Last weekend we thought we were out of the cup and, with the last kick of the game, we earned a draw.

"As the gaffer said after the game, we never know when we are beaten. We did the same against Hibs and Hearts. We'll keep going to the final whistle every game. You never know what's going to happen in these matches."

It is that sentiment which has allowed Derek Adams to place less relevance on the form of the Inverness attack. Inverness put three goals past Hibs in the league on Saturday and have scored 10 times in their last four matches – their threat coming from the likes of Scotland cap Andrew Shinnie, Richie Foran, Billy McKay and Doran. Yet the County manager is not inclined to allow their talents to eclipse those of his defenders.

Adams had voiced some concerns over the manner in which his side failed to keep Motherwell at bay in a 3-2 defeat at the weekend but yesterday he found their performances against Celtic – who required stoppage time to score an equaliser in the first game of the season – and in goalless draws away to Aberdeen and Dundee United, to be more worthy of comment.

"They don't overly concern us. We have played against top-class teams already this season," said Adams of the threat posed by Inverness. "We are aware of the form they are in, but we have had to deal with really good strikers in this league already.

"Billy McKay is up there. He has done exceptionally well. But we can also score goals. We scored three against them in the first cup game. We're looking to try and score as many as we can and really shut it up defensively."

Adams may look to encourage more conservative defending in the league, but does not believe the cup replay is the arena for that. "We went into the last game as underdogs and it is the same [tonight]," said the County manager, who announced that goalkeeper Mark Brown has extended his contract until the end of the season. "Caley Thistle are on a good run of form and we are going to have to go there and upset them.

"My concerns at the weekend were about us defending as a team, rather than specific defenders. We can't give easy possession away but we did that for two goals. We let Motherwell, while we were in good possession, break on us. We can't allow that.

"It is a change from the solidity we showed at the start of the season, but we're obviously scoring goals now. When you open up a wee bit, it is going to go one way or the other.

"That is the way the SPL is. But we have probably had one of the best clean sheet records in the league so far."