91Èȱ¬

Ross County boss Jim McIntyre was delighted that a positive approach resulted in a vital home win against relegation rivals Motherwell.

The Staggies moved to within three points of the visitors with a 3-2 victory at Victoria Park.

"We were in Motherwell's faces, very competitive, and got goals at good times," McIntyre told 91Èȱ¬ Scotland.

"We felt we had to change the system and have a real go. We went with two strikers and they certainly caused lots of problems."

County deservedly led at half-time through a superb Martin Woods volley only for Conor Grant to level from a free-kick early in the second half.

The home side looked to have put the game beyond 'Well with goals from Paul Quinn and Raffaele De Vita but the visitors made sure of a grandstand finish when Fraser Kerr pulled one back 12 minutes from time.

However, the hosts held on for just their third victory of the campaign.

"It's been a long time coming and we thoroughly deserved the win," added McIntyre. "Motherwell were throwing the kitchen sink at it and we had to defend for our lives at times.

"It's an important result but what we have to do is make sure we back it up with other results.

"It's great to draw Motherwell closer to us. If the gap to them had got to nine points it would have been a lot to do for us and we were very mindful of that.

"We know exactly what we need to do and we know how tough it's going to be - we need to go and earn it."

Motherwell manager Ian Baraclough has only picked up one point from the last seven matches after beginning his tenure with back-to-back wins.

"We've scored two good goals away from home and you expect to get something from that," he said.

"But we have to come from behind every week at the moment and we're not giving ourselves a great chance to win games.

"We're getting picked off and that can't be right. Set-pieces are crucial; they can win and lose you games and we need to tighten up in that area, that's for sure.

"We have 13 massive games coming up now and we are in control of our destiny."