Ross County are back where they want to be in the top six of the Scottish Premiership, but forward Liam Boyce believes his club has underachieved this season.
The Staggies recorded their first home Highland derby win in three years with a thrilling 3-2 win against Caley Thistle at Victoria Park on Saturday with Boyce scoring scoring of the goals before a decisive third from Martin Woods.
Carl Tremarco and Alex Fisher were on target for Caley Thistle but the Staggies would not be denied and Boyce said: “We’ve underachieved in terms of the goals we’ve scored which is why it was good to see Martin Woods get on the scoresheet as well.
“We know we can push on in 2017 and turn draws into victories.
“I had a slow start to the season, but the chances have started to come for me and thankfully I’ve been able to take them.
“I don’t worry about goals, I just try to focus on helping the team. I played wide left against Celtic and Jay McEveley helped me get through the game. I’m happy to play wherever the manager needs me.”
The win, County’s first against Inverness in Dingwall since May 2013, has put them back in the top half of the table.
Boyce, who scored a spectacular second goal, was delighted to finally savour a home derby win and has his sights on helping his club push further up the table.
He said: “It felt extra special to score two goals as we haven’t beaten them here since I joined the club and they always seem to get that goal at the end.
“They made us sweat towards the end but we deserved to win.
“We want to keep aiming higher.
“We’ve got into the top six before the winter break and we’ll regroup now and look to push on after the break.”
On his second goal, Boyce added: “I tried to put the ball in the area and I think it was going straight towards the goalkeeper but thankfully it managed to go over him and into the net.”
County manager Jim McIntyre and his players will enjoy a week’s break before returning to training next Monday and Boyce is looking forward to relaxing for a week following a busy spell of football with club and country in the past two seasons.
He said: “Since I’ve been here, even in the summer I haven’t had much of a break as I’ve been involved with Northern Ireland so it’s nice to have a week off and recharge the batteries before we come back again.”
