Stack hopes 'wake-up call' will steel team for trip to Dingwall

The former Arsenal goalkeeper admitted the Edinburgh club's long hoodoo in the competition had made the 2-2 result doubly disappointing, and he knows John Hughes' side will have to match County's fighting spirit if they are to win next week's rematch.

He said: "The biggest difference between them and us was their work ethic. Their desire to go through to the next round and go on and win the game was far greater than ours.

"We're very disappointed. Everyone knows what's at stake here. It's not just a normal cup run, we know the history of the cup and we know how long it's been. Every one of us was disappointed and the gaffer was disappointed and angry, and rightly so.

"It's frustrating when we had put ourselves in such a great position to put ourselves in the next round of the cup and play at Hampden, which is a dream for me – it's something I've wanted to do since I've been here.

"We lived life on the edge and maybe in the end we were fortunate to come away still in the hat."

Stack added: "But there were lessons to be learned. We all know where we went wrong, there are a lot of individuals who might feel they let themselves down, and we've got an opportunity to go and turn that round when we go there the next time."

County striker Michael Gardyne, who scored the equaliser 11 minutes from time, is now hopeful of making it through to the semi-finals. He said: "Right from the start the performance was brilliant. Hibs saw pretty much the best of us on Saturday and I'm not sure if they will fancy coming all the way up to Dingwall. We'll be well up for it and they will need to be up for it.

"The boys are soaring in confidence after Saturday and everybody will be looking forward to the replay. It would be great if we could match what we did on Saturday. If we do we've got every chance to sneak through."