“It was important that we came out fighting in the second half and showed our intent.

“In the first half we lost a poor goal which added to the anxiety and we never really got going but we know that Ross County are the type of team that can put teams under pressure. We could have dealt with the goal two or three times before it ended up in the back of the net so that was disappointing and it made the job that bit harder.

“We said to the players the good thing was that we had 45 minutes left. We can talk to them but they are the ones that got over the line and I couldn’t be more pleased for them.

“They showed everybody exactly what we have got in the dressing room and it’s good to keep a few people quiet.

“The first goal comes, then the second one came quickly and the third, it was just relentless. I thought we were first to every ball and we were winning headers that we maybe weren’t winning in the first half. We were also playing in the right areas and we were winning tackles. We had pace and intent and we were absolutely relentless with our work and it was no more than we deserved, a brilliant three points for us.

“Niall did a few good things in the first half but that gets forgotten about because we were losing the game 1-0 at half-time. We had to deal with that situation and we knew that we were better than what we were showing.

“It would have been easy for the players to duck responsibility but they deserve the credit for coming out fighting. It’s not about what was said at half-time, it was for them to help themselves and they did it by themselves. They should be so pleased with that. 

“We are 2^nd in the league and we are a point ahead of where we were last year. We broke a league record last year for a non-old-firm team points tally and I still think we can have a successful campaign. I understand that the expectations are higher now and it’s important that we try and meet those challenges.

“Over the last few seasons we have stressed the importance of wanting to enjoy playing at home and winning at home and we have only lost once this season. The supporters are used to seeing their team winning and it was good for them to see their team winning again today and going second in the league.

“Danny Ward didn’t have a lot to do but he did well with the save (when the score was 2-1) and showed his quality to get it away and it was a crucial moment but we have seen that type of quality time and time again from him.”