LIAM Boyce was a fitting hero as he struck his ninth goal of the season to secure their place in the Scottish Premiership.

The Northern Irish striker has come to the fore as Jim McIntyre's side have sought to stave off relegation and he was on hand late on to give the Staggies the three points after Michael Gardyne cancelled out Lucas Tagliapietra's opener.

County, who were six points adrift at the bottom of the table in February, started the day knowing that if they were able to better Motherwell's result at St Mirren Park they would be safe, but for much of the day it looked unlikely to happen.

The first chance of the match fell to the hosts after just two minutes when Curran collected a pass from De Vita inside the box and although he forced McGovern into a save he really should have given his side the lead.

Despite that early chance, the first half was dominated by Hamilton as they looked to take advantage of County's obvious nervousness.

The visitors forced a number of early corners and County struggled to cope with the delivery of Ali Crawford. Accies could have taken the lead twice inside the first 10 minutes courtesy of Crawford's deliveries as both Tagliapietra and Jesus Garcia Tena found themselves unmarked inside the penalty area but neither was able to hit the target.

County did not heed the warning signs however and they were made to pay in the 27th minute when Tagliapietra was given the freedom of the penalty box once again from a Crawford corner and this time he powered a header into the bottom corner.

The goal shook the Staggies into life and after a decent period of pressure they carved out a fantastic opportunity to equalise. Reckord's cross evaded Boyce in the centre and Curran could only find the side netting as he slid in with many of the home fans believing the ball had found the inside of the net.

County went into the break feeling aggrieved that they were not awarded a penalty moments before the whistle as Gardyne appeared to be pulled down inside the box by MacDonald.

That sense of injustice had the home players fired up as the second half began and they pulled level shortly before the hour mark. The ball broke to the tireless Gardyne on the edge of the box after a corner was poorly cleared and he unleashed an unstoppable left foot shot into the bottom corner.

With 10 minutes remaining things were looking very worrying for County as the news that Motherwell had taken the lead coincided with a moment of madness from Filip Kiss. The Slovakian got himself involved in an off-the-ball altercation with Tena when he pushed up for a corner and the referee Bobby Madden produced a straight red card.

The Staggies pushed on despite being a man down and got the winner with 5 minutes remaining. Gardyne's corner was poorly defended by Accies and the ball broke to the perfect man for County in the form of Liam Boyce who duly dispatched through a crowd of bodies.

It was a just reward for manager Jim McIntyre's boldness in sticking with two men up front despite being down to ten men, and he admitted that he was influenced by the fact that Motherwell were winning at the time.

"We knew that we needed to win the match," he said. "Obviously Motherwell were ahead at that point and we were aware of that.

"I think a lot of people thought the job was done after the run we went on winning eight games out of nine. I knew it wasn't done because teams are still fighting for their lives. Things got a bit nervous after the last couple of results but now the job is done I'm absolutely delighted."

The party atmosphere was building in the stadium as the news of St Mirren's equaliser filtered through, but there was still time for late drama as Ali Crawford sent a thunderous shot from 30 yards crashing against the crossbar with only seconds remaining.

That was the final act of the match and the celebrations well and truly started when the announcer brought the news of St Mirren's late winner against Motherwell with supporters taking to the pitch to enjoy the moment with the players.

"We played really well in the first half," said Hamilton manager Martin Canning. "We let our performance level drop slightly in the second half and full credit to Ross County for pushing on and winning the match."