John Hughes: 'Stranraer deserved replay'

Inverness Caledonian Thistle boss John Hughes says that League One side Stranraer deserved to earn a replay after the sides drew their Scottish Cup tie on Saturday.

The Highlanders were ahead through Aaron Doran in the first period, before Martin Grehan pegged Caley back from the spot and were 18 minutes from a cup upset when Jamie Longworth put the minnows ahead.

However, Billy McKay saved Thistle from a shock exit and Hughes was quick to credit his opponents while bemoaning his own side's inability to build on their initial lead.

He was quoted by Football 365 as saying: "I loved every single minute of the match. Credit to Stranraer, they just about managed to pull it off.

"But once again we don't do anything easy at Inverness. We showed character to come back from it and dug deep to equalise.

"Apart from one of two breakaways I thought we hemmed them in and we might have scored one or two goals. That might have been a bit hard on Stranraer though. They deserve their replay."

Before the sides do battle again, Inverness return to Premiership duty against the league bottom team Hearts.