Malky Mackay was thrilled with the way Ross County rose to the occasion with a four-goal triumph in their bottom-of-the-table encounter against Dundee United.
The Staggies raced into an early two-goal lead against United through Eamonn Brophy and Yan Dhanda, with second half goals from Jordan White and Brophy completing the scoring.
County could have added further goals, as they twice hit the woodwork and had another goal ruled out for offside.
With the Staggies having been just a point ahead of their opponents before kick-off, the result moves the Dingwall men into 10th place.
Mackay was delighted with the manner of the victory – which was the Staggies’ first home league triumph over the Tannadice side since August 2015.
He said: “I’m delighted with the performance and result, and the way we started.
“Also the way we started the second half because 2-0 is a dangerous scoreline.
“We could have got more, but it’s an eight-goal swing between ourselves and United, which is important – and it’s a clean sheet.
“I thought it was similar to the Kilmarnock game a couple of weeks ago, where we started well. We got on the front foot and didn’t take our foot off the pedal for 95 minutes.
“That’s not easy, because there are a lot of games in this division where there’s not much between the teams.
“It was always going to be a tricky one for us no matter what. Even off the back of some of the stuff that has been going on this week, in terms of the press coverage around Dundee United, that doesn’t help as far as we are concerned.
“You can be on a hiding to nothing with that.
“I’m delighted at the way we played, the manner we went about our business. It keeps us all involved there.”
Brophy played a huge role on his return to the side, with his two goals accompanied with two assists for Dhanda and White.
Mackay has been thrilled with the impact the on-loan St Mirren attacker has already had on the Staggies’ side.
He added: “We’ve had to be careful with him because he has not played a lot of football in the last six to nine months.
“I’ve known him for a number of years and he was involved in my Scotland under-21s and clearly had a massive impact at Kilmarnock when Steve Clarke had him.
“It is great to get him but I had to be very careful in how we handled that first few weeks because of his lack of game time.
“The St Mirren game was the chance to do a little mini pre-season with him, which we did last week, which he wanted to do. That’s testament to him.
“In this game he showed so much in the final third. His strike hits the post, he scores two and sets up two, but it is also his running ability and his cleverness I was delighted with.
“He gives Jordan White an enormous amount of help up there because Jordan has had to plough a lone furrow for us since last year.
“It allows him that little bit more space and time as well. I’m delighted Jordan gets his goal as well.”
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