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A goal from Ross County substitute Rafa de Vita with 20 minutes remaining was enough to see off Dunfermline in their Scottish Cup fourth-round replay.

The winger replaced the ineffectual Jonathan Franks at the interval and broke the deadlock in a scrappy affair.

Faissel El-Bahktaoui squandered Dunfermline's best chance moments before De Vita's winner.

County will now host either Forfar Athletic or Linlithgow Rose in the next round.

There were few clear-cut opportunities for either side but El-Bahktaoui missed a golden one by shooting straight at Scott Fox seconds before Ross County hit the front.

It was the League One leaders' first defeat in 14 games stretching back to early October but they did not look out of place against a team two divisions above them.

The Staggies will be relieved just to be through to the next round in a season that already offers a League Cup semi-final against Celtic to look forward to.

Dunfermline started the replay the way they finished the first meeting, by going at Ross County with pace, aggression and good movement in the forward areas.

Former County winger Joe Cardle was heavily involved and a more decisive attempt at goal by him might well have put the visitors into the lead as the home defence struggled early on.

Not that the Pars backline looked any more solid when put under pressure, and a lighter touch on the ball would have brought Brian Graham an opener in 32 minutes.

Instead he hooked the ball over Sean Murdoch and the crossbar from close range, and for long spells of the opening period the Premiership side were one dimensional in attack.

They failed to impose themselves on their League One opponents, which was perhaps a reflection of the continued injury absence of first-choice strikers Liam Boyce and Craig Curran.

The quality of play did not improve much after the interval, with very few good chances created by either side until poor El-Bakhtaoui missed a glaring opportunity.

The standout player of the first game played a neat exchange of passes with Michael Moffat to go clear but he shot straight at Fox when he really should have scored.

Within a minute Ross County finally broke the deadlock when Michael Gardyne produced a telling cross from the left, Graham's physicality created space and De Vita crashed in his second goal of the season to seal County's passage into the next round.