One of the hardest things Terry Butcher had to leave behind in Inverness when he took charge of Hibernian was his former club's place in the League Cup semi-finals.

Here, though, was a chance to send his new charges on the path to somewhere similar. They got there, thanks to an early Danny Handling strike and despite having Paul Cairney sent off, but it was not a game either Butcher or his Ross County counterpart Derek Adams will want to watch back.

"It wasn't the best of football matches," admitted Butcher. "It was a gritty cup tie, but going down to 10 men certainly didn't help and I thought Paul's second yellow was extremely harsh.

"It was a goal kick or a penalty. There was contact made, he's got a big mark on his shin; so there was a challenge there. We had to be resilient and the players showed me today how they can defend very well."

Cairney crossed the thin line between hero and villain with around 15 minutes to go, when he almost scored a terrific goal, but instead had to leave the pitch, not to return.

He had bamboozled the County midfield and skipped past at least three defenders before driving straight through the centre and into the box. Just when it seemed all he had to do was dink the ball over the goalkeeper, though, he opted for another touch and tried to take it past.

Mark Brown got to it and Cairney tumbled over - neither a penalty nor a booking was the consensus. Referee Craig Thomson disagreed waving a yellow card to go along with one he had brandished earlier for Cairney's protests against a foul in the first half.

The less said about that opening period, the better. It was excruciating viewing - the kind of turgid football only barely watchable through your fingers.

While most of the crowd winced at each aimless thump into the midfield air, the only sign of life in the stadium came from the visiting end, nearly full of singing Hibs fans with a renewed sense of optimism under their new manager.

Their team's opener came from a rare piece of inspired football. Liam Craig - easily the most dangerous player on the park - slipped a cleverly disguised pass through County's bewildered defence to allow Handling a sight of the goal. He duly finished, low and hard to Brown's left.

Minutes earlier, County had had the ball in the net, Gary Glen thumping a volley past Ben Williams. The whistle had already blown, though, after Kevin Luckassen attempted an effort that would be more at home in Hong Kong cinema than Highland football, his boot narrowly missing defenders at head height.

The hosts improved after the break, creating two good opportunities. First, Rocco Quinn's square pass found Stuart Kettlewell lurking at the edge of the area. His low shot, though, was deflected round the post. Then Graham Carey threw in a low, fizzing cross into the near post. Luckassen rose past his marker, glancing the ball on to the outside of the post and out for a goal kick.

As County stretched the play in trying to chase the game, Lewis Stevenson's deflected shot dipped just over the bar - the chance would not have been created though, had Steven Saunders not pulled up on the halfway line in possession.

It was the most unfortunate of injuries for County, just after they had gained the numerical advantage. Saunders struggled on for a while, but soon gave up the ghost. The hosts had used up all their substitutes; the teams were level at 10 players each. County manager Adams made no excuses.

"We were very poor today," he admitted. "Over the 90 minutes we didn't deserve to go through. We had a few injury problems, but I can't say anything other than we didn't play well today and there was no cohesion in the team.

"It was a lacklustre performance and not up to standard. I don't think Hibs created a lot either, it won't be great for the highlights programme."