JIM McINTYRE yesterday allayed concerns over Richard Brittain's Ross County future after having dropped the club captain on Saturday.

Brittain remained benched as Rocco Quinn took possession of the skipper's armband in McIntyre's first match in charge against Motherwell. It was a doubly big call from the new manager given that Scott Boyd previously served as vice-captain under predecessor Derek Adams, while it was Quinn's first turn to step up as leader.

McIntyre, though, stressed that Brittain still had a big role to play in his plans. "We looked at the team we picked to face Motherwell and Rocco has good experience," he said.

"He's a good talker on the park, so that was the reason he was chosen. It's not a permanent change at all. Richie is the captain, without a shadow of doubt. We had to pick a team we felt could win the game.

"Richie will have a big part to play here, as will all the other ones who didn't play. Nobody is an automatic pick. The opportunity is there for everybody to impress and get in the team. If you don't get in the team, I expect you to respond in the proper manner. And I've got to say, the players have been excellent - training has been really sharp.

"They are giving their all and, as a manager, that's all you can ask. You can always work on things you can do better and highlight that to the players, that's our job as coaches.

"But the level of effort has to be a given and we are very happy with the players' reaction so far."

Quinn earned the manager's praise for his performances in the close-fought defeat to Stuart McCall's side. But McIntyre was at pains to spread the praise right through the team after a positive first performance was undone by two magical moments from Iain Vigurs and John Sutton.

"I wouldn't have picked Rocco as captain if I didn't think he was up to the job," said McIntyre. "I thought he did particularly well on Saturday.

"But it would be wrong to just single Rocco out because he was named as captain. I thought Jackson Irvine did really well. There were a lot of good performances - Carey and Cardle on the left caused Motherwell bother. Big Scott Boyd battled really well with Sutton who is a handful.

"You could name different players all throughout the team who I thought did well in stages. I'm just pleased. I was very pleased watching it back. My thoughts didn't change very much from after the match."