The script for this match promised much. lt was a derby, a cup tie and a collision between two sides who are committed to playing football. However, a Scottish referee barged on to centre stage to take the leading role, even if it was one as a pantomime villain.

A flourish of a red card by Iain Brines just before half-time irredeemably changed the dynamic of this match, perhaps help push it towards two hours.

The match went to extra time before Stephen Ettien bundled home a Brian Easton pass to end the resistance of 10-man Motherwell.

Mercifully, Brines's error did not compromise the match's capacity to entertain and excite. However, the dismissal of Chris Porter for a mistimed challenge on David Elebert just before half-time was as harsh as a Siberian winter. The sending off of Simon Mensing in extra time, with 12 other players booked, merely added to Brines's reputation as a man who seems to court the headlines.

The red card for Porter was crucial. It meant that Motherwell, who had earlier lost Stephen Craigan through injury, had to change a set-up that contributed to a match where enterprise was rewarded in dramatic fashion through a fine goal by David Graham before a deserved Motherwell equaliser through the promising Jamie Murphy. The home side also had to play for one hour and 15 minutes with 10 men. It was too much for them.

Yet they contributed generously to an excellent match. With both sides squaring up with 4-3-3 formations, a rowdy Fir Park of more than 5000 had been entertained for most of the first half by Motherwell pushing forward with menace and Hamilton flashing back on the break.

The best of the early chances fell to the home side, though substitute James McCarthy missed a sitter when the scores were level in the second half. Earlier, though, Stephen Hughes hit a post with a venomous drive after good work from Bob Malcolm and Porter.

The big centre-forward also headed just wide before Murphy sprinted through the middle on to a Hughes pass and was only denied by a strong hand from Sean Murdoch.

Hamilton, in reply, were cursed by neatness in the first half. They were tidy on the ball. Fastidious in possession. Measured in their passing. But they could not threaten the Motherwell goal. Their best chance followed a fine cross by Christopher Casement which Mark Corcoran reached but could not control.

The match was full of incident, most of it legal yet Brines made it seem like an all-out battle with a profusion of yellow and two flashes of red. He was fallible thoughout but his major contribution, and blunder, came just before half-time. Motherwell had lost possession deep in the Hamilton half when Porter lunged towards Elebert and caught the defender on the ankle.

It was an unwise rather than a malicious tackle and the centre-back was uninjured. Brines fished out a red and Porter was dismissed to the consternation of Motherwell players and supporters. An incredulous Steven Hammell was booked for dissent.

Motherwell had to regroup at half-time but, almost inevitably, Graham's excellent goal nine minutes after the restart put them further into the mire. The Hamilton forward drifted in from the right and curled a left-foot shot past Smith.

The home side responded in fine fashion. Mark McGhee brought off a midfielder, Hughes, and replaced him with another forward in the combative shape of John Sutton.

The equaliser promptly followed. Sutton stabbed a loose ball into Murphy's path and the increasingly impressive youngster scored without fuss but to loud acclaim. Hamilton then forced the play in the final quarter. Motherwell's exertions with 10 men were extracting a toll. But Hamilton seemed to be unwilling to apply the killer touch. McCarthy missed from six yards when in front of an open goal.

Graham went on a run so wandering it seemed to include a chunk of the M74 before running out of purpose and fuel. Ettien headed wastefully wide after an excellent run and cross by Easton.

However, Easton was to reprise his run in extra time and on this occasion Ettien knocked the ball past Graeme Smith. Malcolm smacked the Hamilton post and David Clarkson was foiled by Murdoch with a free-kick but the story had been told.

Porter was miscast as a villain. There was appropriately a saint Ettien. But Brines was the leading man who gave himself the most important lines.