ROSS County's William Hill Scottish Cup adventure is over for another year after Tuesday night's 2-1 home defeat against SPL opponents St Mirren.
This fifth round replay at Victoria Park, Dingwall, saw Staggies boss Derek Adams ring the changes - six of them from the side which drew 1-1 at Raith Rovers in Division One on Saturday.
Michael Fraser was replaced by Joe Malin in the nets, while Richard Brittain and Colin McMenamin were rested, along with Iain Vigurs, Grant Munro and Paul Lawson.
Stuart Kettlewell was missing with a knee injury.
Coming into the line-up as well as Malin were Johhny Flynn, Russell Duncan, Sam Morrow, Michael Gardyne and Rocco Quinn.
The result ended County's incredible unbeaten run of 17 games, their last defeat coming in the 2-0 League Cup loss against Celtic on September 21.
Nigel Hasselbaink and Gary Teale were the Buddies' scorers, but Saints were reduced to 10 men before the break when Steven Thompson was sent off for allegedly elbowing Johnny Flynn in an off-the-ball incident.
Hasselbaink shot the Paisley team in front with a wonderful 20-yard strike on 14 minutes after Thompson headed the ball into his path.
Despite being a man down, the visitors doubled their lead seven minutes after the break when Hasselbaink crashed another terrific shot high past Malin after Graham Carey cut inside Gary Miller and Flynn in the box.
Morrow pulled one back when he connected with a Flynn free-kick, but County could not find the equaliser to take the tie to extra-time.
St Mirren will now face Hearts at Tynecastle in the quarter-finals after the Jambos beat St Johnstone 2-1 after extra-time.
Aberdeen's Andrew Considine netted deep in stoppage time to save blushes and help the Dons to a 2-1 win at Division One Queen of the South in their replay.
On Saturday, County continue their hectic schedule when they host Ayr United in the league, followed by a home clash against Morton next Tuesday.
* See this week's North Star for a full match report from Tuesday, plus a full preview of Saturday's clash against Ayr United.
