Fulton will not be no.1 for acclaim
HAMILTON ACCIES ........ 0 ROSS COUNTY ................ 0
RYAN FULTON repelled everything Ross County threw at him then batted away all the plaudits for his perfect performance.
The Hamilton keeper was inspired, producing 10 saves over the course of 120 minutes to take the Premiership side to penalties before emerging as the shoot-out hero.
Jordan White was denied by Fulton with County’s first attempt and the Accies kickers held their nerve to prevail 5-3.
Instead of wallowing in the glory of his string of stops, Fulton made a stand for his team-mates by deflecting praise from his individual excellence.
And he stressed that goalkeeping coach Brian Potter and his analysis aces were behind the save from White that ultimately secured a last-16 clash at home to Hearts.
It was a third successive victory for John Rankin’s side in three different competitions.
In the wake of reaching the SPFL Trust Trophy semis, then edging Morton 1-0 in the league, the Championship’s bottom club claimed a noteworthy Scottish Cup scalp.
Fulton said: “Look, the whole team are in good form. We’re starting to show what we’re capable of and we just need to keep going now to get back up that league.
“It’s nice to go through to the next round because everyone dug in and did their part. In the last three games we’ve shown much more of what we’re about.
“I guess after making saves during the game, you can be a little bit more confident going into the shoot-out and you just want to make sure it’s not all for nothing. Pottsy and the analysis team do the work. As soon as extra-time was finished, they came over and helped me out a bit. At least I managed to get one, that was the main thing.
“It helped, we worked on White and we had an idea where he was going, so it’s worked out well.”
On return to the grind of their relegation fight, it’s back-to-back home games against Kilmarnock and Hibs for the Staggies now
Skipper Jack Baldwin said: “It’s probably the lowest point of the season.
“Hopefully we can get the lads together, get our heads together and really understand the position we’re in now.”