Ross County ended a seven-match losing run at home with a thrilling victory over fellow Scottish Premiership basement battlers Motherwell at Global Energy Stadium.
County deservedly led at half-time through a superb Martin Woods strike, but Conor Grant levelled from a free-kick early in the second half.
The home side looked to have put the game beyond Well with goals from Paul Quinn and Raffaele De Vitam but the visitors made sure of a grandstand finish when Fraser Kerr pulled one back 11 minutes from the end.
Motherwell created the first opening when Lee Erwin cut in from the left and took aim but his shot was deflected behind for a corner by County defender Marcus Fraser.
Craig Reid let fly in the third minute with a long -ange effort which fizzed past Mark Brown's left-hand post.
At the other end, Jamie Reckord swung over a cross which flicked off the top of Craig Curran's head before going out for a goal kick.
Reckford put in another good delivery in the 17th minute but Michael Gardyne failed to get enough on the ball.
The match came to life again in the 27th minute when Well's new on-loan signing Nathan Thomas took advantage of a Reckord slip and the winger fired in a shot which Brown held at the second attempt.
Then it was County's chance to threaten and Well goalkeeper George Long did well to tip over a rasping shot from Liam Boyce.
Scott Boyd then tested Long with a pile-driver which the keeper again turned over.
But County took the lead in the 34th minute with a wonderful goal from Woods.
The midfielder played a one-two with De Vita before finding the corner of the net with a superb left-foot volley.
The home side had a chance to double their lead a couple of minutes later when Boyce got on the end of a Woods free-kick but failed to finish.
Well tried to get back on level terms before the break and Kerr twice headed into the arms of Brown from set-pieces.
County had another good chance to extend their lead in the 47th minute when Jackson Irvine got on the end of Woods' corner but, with the goal at his mercy, he headed well over.
Well won a free-kick in a dangerous position in the 54th minute when Reckord fouled Grant. The Well midfielder took the kick himself and curled the ball in at Brown's near post.
However, County were back in front five minutes later when Quinn rose highest in the box to head home a De Vita free-kick.
Well refused to lie down and they were thrown a lifeline in the 79th minute when Kerr headed a Grant corner in off the underside of the crossbar.
But County held on for a vital three points to keep alive their hopes of staying up.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article