91Èȱ¬

Ross County manager Jim McIntyre remains wary of St Mirren despite moving 13 points clear of the bottom side with victory over St Johnstone.

Liam Boyce scored with a late header to make it seven wins from eight games for the in-form Dingwall side.

With a visit to Paisley next, McIntyre said: "It's looking a tall order for St Mirren, no doubt.

"But they are going to be determined when we go there. It's a last throw of the dice for them."

Motherwell crushed St Mirren 5-0 to remain three points behind County in the relegation play-off spot but McIntyre insists he was paying no heed to the score at Fir Park.

"We were just concentrating on our own game and until we face Motherwell that won't change," he told 91Èȱ¬ Radio Scotland.

"You've got to give credit to Motherwell who are also on a very good run."

The Staggies are now just one point behind Partick Thistle, who are at Celtic Park on Wednesday night.

"We want to catch the teams above us but we know that will be difficult," McIntyre explained.

"Thistle are in good form right now, taking seven points from a possible nine.

"We've just to concentrate on ourselves and see where that takes us."

On a fifth consecutive home success, McIntyre added: "It was a hard fought game. We showed great desire, even though the quality was missing at times.

"I thought we did a lot of things well but our final ball and cross was missing in the first half.

"We spoke about it at half time and said if we could improve on that we could win the match.

"Liam Boyce has been such a big part of this run, creating opportunities for others, so it was great for him to get a goal."

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright was disappointed that his side failed to pose any attacking threat in a game of few clear-cut chances.

"I don't think we passed the ball well enough and we gave away too many free-kicks - allowing them to build pressure," he said.

"Saying that, Alan Mannus has only had one save to make.

"But we should do better at the back, stopping the ball from getting into the box for the goal.

"I'm not criticising the defenders, they dealt well with balls into the box all night.

"We knew what to expect and they certainly didn't surprise us but we didn't do enough to win the game.

"We're very much in control of finishing in the top six, although it would have been nice to do it on Saturday or tonight.

"It's in our hands. No one can catch us if we beat Dundee at home on Saturday."