Ross County boss Jim McIntyre happy to get "monkey off his back"

Ross County manager Jim McIntyre finally got the "monkey off his back" with a win in the Highland derby against Inverness.

The Inverness side had won on their last five visits to Dingwall and McIntyre had not beaten them on home soil during his tenure.

But a first half double from Liam Boyce and a Martin Woods goal was enough to give County a 3-2 win, with Carl Tremarco and Alex Fisher on target for Caley Thistle.

McIntyre said: "I'm delighted. It was very pleasing to get our monkey off our back as we haven't beaten Inverness since we arrived here.

"We wanted to get back into the top six and we set the players that challenge a couple of months back. Apart from the last two results we have been very consistent and the lads have been superb.

"Inverness had a lot of the game too but our chances were better than theirs and we deserved to win."

The County boss was full of praise for his top scorer and added: "Liam is a huge player for us and a clever one who we ask to play in a lot of positions.

"Wherever he plays he can hurt the opposition as he has football intelligence and he can still get himself into goalscoring positions. He is a class player.

"It has been so tough this season and that's due to the quality of all the teams in the league."

Inverness manger Richie Foran felt his side created enough chances to have taken something form the game.

He said: "It's fine margins. We looked the better football team and they looked really dangerous on the counter. We've created chances and put lots of crosses in the box.

"There's a bit of a confidence problem running through the team at the moment. There was a bit of nervousness there which I saw from the start.

"The goals gave us a lift but when you're low on confidence, you're low on energy.

"We talk about belief and believing we can score. They say they believe they can score but I don't think we believe we can hit the back of the net with these chances.

"The second goal kills us - we let him inside and it's schoolboy stuff. We should be showing him outside. But we're still in the pack. We're six points off the top six - two wins from where we want to be."

However, Foran promised better things to come, he added: "This year has been a poor performance from me and from the players.

"I'm the head of it so it's been a poor start to management for me. Next year will be better from me and my team."