Inverness CT 2-0 Stirling: Scottish Cup holders into the fifth round

Scottish Cup holders Inverness CT beat spirited Stirling Albion 2-0 in the fourth-round replay at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium.

Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo and Iain Vigurs scored the goals which set up a fifth-round tie against Scottish Premiership counterparts Motherwell at Fir Park.

The League Two side made a bright start and Steven Doris turned his marker to burst through towards the Inverness penalty area before he was barged over by Danny Williams.

Gary Warren came close at the other end of the pitch on nine minutes when he rose to meet a corner and the ball spun off Willie Robertson on the Stirling goal-line.

Inverness opened the scoring on 28 minutes when Mbuyi-Mutombo drifted in from the left touchline and unleashed a shot from 25 yards which beat Chris Smith and full-stretch at his near post.

Mbuyi-Mutombo then shuffled a pass to Ross Drapper to test Smith from similar distance, and this time the Albion goalkeeper got down at his near post to save.

Iain Vigurs had a shot blocked just inside the penalty area shortly after the interval after Mbuyi-Mutombo again drifted inside to set up the opportunity.

Stirling felt they should have had a penalty on 57 minutes when the ball broke to Ross Forsyth just outside the box and his shot bounced up against Danny Devine's arm, but referee Matt Northcroft waved play on.

Four minutes later the home side doubled their lead after a neat spin from Miles Storey allowed him to return the ball to Draper and he raced into the box and laid a pass back to Vigurs to curl his shot past Smith from 15 yards.

With Inverness safely through to the next round of the competition, midfielder Richie Foran was introduced in the final 10 minutes for his first appearance of the campaign after a length injury.

Tuesday night's other Scottish Cup replay between Forfar and Junior club Linlithgow Rose was abandoned in the early stages after a floodlight failure.

The match at Station Park also saw the latest incident with pyrotechnics, when flares were let off prior to kick-off.