Ross County 2 Hamilton Academical 1

It is fair to say there is competition for places at Ross County. Just ask Alex Schalk. When the Dutch goalscorer netted in memorable fashion against Celtic in the shock League Cup semi-final victory at Hampden, he might have expected to earn a starting spot in the next couple of league outings. Instead, after facing Linlithgow Rose in the Scottish Cup, it was back to the substitutes' bench for the former Holland under 21s striker as box office signing David Goodwillie claimed centre stage.

Saturday's recall, then, was welcome – and an opportunity the ex-Go Ahead Eagles man grabbed with the opening goal and another thoroughly impressive performance.

One of five able strikers now resident in Jim McIntyre's squad, Schalk naturally has personal preoccupations but is nothing if not a team player.

With an historic Hampden Park trip looming in the mid-March final against Hibernian, County's aforementioned competitiveness is only going to heighten, but Schalk was quick to emphasise the unity driving the Dingwall team onwards on three domestic fronts.

"Our response to going a man down against Hamilton was amazing. The spirit was fantastic," Schalk stressed.

"Ian McShane was man of the match, without question, but we all could have been man of the match. Our defence was so important, with Scott Fox outstanding in goal and all of the lads throwing themselves into tackles and putting bodies on the line.

"We're all playing very well. Our team bonding is very good at the moment, and it is hard to put into words just how string the group spirit is.

"It was a fantastic team effort to not only hold out, but to win the game with 10 men."

Schalk's diving header on the stroke of half-time served as a timely reminder to manager Jim McIntyre, if one was needed, of just what a diverse group of strikers he possesses.

Liam Boyce is the clever, bustling goalscorer with international class. The injured Craig Curran offers great work-rate and intelligent link play. Brian Graham is the big target man with clever flicks and touches, who makes the ball stick in the attacking areas.

Goodwillie has already shown hints he can re-emerge from the shadows he found himself in at Aberdeen.

Schalk, perhaps the least known of the five, is offering great energy, mobility, skill and prowess in and around the penalty area. "I think I did well a couple of weeks ago when I started against Celtic," Schalk said. "I feel like I did pretty well but I had two games on the bench against Hearts and then Celtic again.

"I've done well when I've come on and I've kept training hard and performing well every day. I'm delighted the manager gave me another shot and I think I did a good job. I was a bit unlucky to be subbed off but I understand that, because it was a tactical decision to bring on another defender.

"It's always disappointing to be dropped, especially when I've done well. But I don't want to think about that. I need to just keep on going and working hard, because eventually my chance will come again, and so it did.

"I'm delighted that we won, that was the most important thing."

Accies might justifiably claim their artificial surface spares teams battles on heavy parks in winter. But few at the Global Energy Stadium were complaining. It was breathless, thrilling stuff in the Dingwall mud. County grasped a lead on the cusp of half-time through Schalk at a time when Hamilton had exerted a great deal of pressure, including a Lucas Tagliapietra header blocked on the line by Paul Quinn.

Richard Foster's free-kick was nodded back across goal by Andrew Davies and Schalk showed great alertness to launch himself at it and power a header in off Michael McGovern's flailing glove.

County then saw their best-laid plans torn to pieces by a foolish Jamie Reckord red card early in the second half. The left back's hesitancy had Dougie Imrie threatening to wriggle away and race clean through the middle. The foul was a clear sending off offence.

At 1-0 down with 10 men, County keeper Fox pulled off a number of fine saves including one quite jaw-dropping stop from Imrie. But when Accies levelled there looked to be no way back for a host side increasingly on the ropes. Imrie glanced home an excellent header from a Gramoz Kurtaj cross after 67 minutes to level.

With great resolve, County shored up in the face of heavy pressure – and then began to probe forward themselves. Accies were incensed with the free-kick award 22 yards out when County skipper Andrew Davies tumbled under an Ali Crawford challenge.

Ian McShane, already County's established dead ball specialist, stepped up with ice in his veins and swirled a wonderful free-kick strike in at the top near-side corner of the net.

Defeat left Martin Canning's Accies side just a point above the dreaded play-off spot, but still with everything to fight for ahead of the split. There was deep unhappiness, though, over referee Greg Aitken's decision to penalise Ali Crawford with a free-kick on Andrew Davies, leading to McShane's winner.

"The winning goal Ross County scored wasn't a free kick, so we're disappointed from that aspect, but our commitment in the second half to get back into the game was excellent," Accies' scorer Dougie Imrie said.

"We lost the game to a wonder strike but it shouldn't have been a free kick in the first place. When they scored we had taken a grip on the game. Then, I don't know how their goalkeeper saved my first chance. It was a wonder save.

"After we scored, I thought there was only going to be one team who'd win, but its decisions like that that cost you points."