A BOTTLE of Whyte & Mackay can take years to mature, but its Ross County namesakes only took ten minutes to find the right blend for the Staggies.
Jordan White and Billy McKay combined to become the toast of the Highlands on Wednesday as they came off the bench to score and hand John Hughes' men three important points over Hamilton Accies in the relegation battle.
It was especially pleasing for White, who made an instant impact at his new team after spending the better part of six months bottled up at Motherwell.
"There was a lot of stuff that went against me [at Motherwell] but I am not going to sit here and feel sorry for myself," the 29-year-old said. "You just have to get on with it and move on and get a fresh start. Thankfully, it went well.
"My last start was actually against Hamilton in August so you kinda lose your feel a wee bit around the pitch.
"Because it was a fresh start I feel like I got that back and I had a fresh mind going into it.
"It was a really big win for us and hopefully that gives us the momentum to go forward now."
White's goal, his first in the Premiership, proved a turning point in the basement clash at the Fountain of Youth Stadium.
One of five second-half changes made by Hughes in his quest to claw back a Stephen Kelly own-goal, the former Inverness player showed surprisingly quick-thinking for a man who had played less than 100 minutes of football in two months to flick a wayward Jason Naismith shot beyond Ryan Fulton.
Not content with just a point on his debut, he then turned provider for McKay, bursting into space down the right to tee-up the Northern Irishman for the winner.
"It was a great finish from Billy [McKay]," White said. "You look at the quality we have the team and the quality we are bringing off the bench.
"We have a good squad and hopefully we can keep picking up results."
When asked how he had found the move back north, he said: "I know a lot of the boys from playing with them and against them. It's easy fitting in. You get that instant connection with players."
While White had plenty to toast, Brian Easton and his Hamilton team-mates had to make do with putting their celebrations on ice.
The Accies were impressive for large swathes of the match, new signing Bruce Anderson and Marios Ogkmpoe showing signs of a blossoming partnership, yet will head into a Sunday clash against Rangers at least four points adrift at the foot of the table.
Hamilton are, remarkably, still the last team to beat Steven Gerrard's men in league action and Easton sees no reason why they can't do it again.
“We won’t need to motivate ourselves for that one," he said. "There should always be the same amount of energy and enthusiasm for any opponent but you seem to find another level when Celtic or Rangers are here.
“It’ll be tough because they’ve been phenomenal this season but we have a job to do and we’ll be working hard to get something against them.
“St Mirren have beaten them so they’re not invincible and we were the last team to beat them in the league – when we won 1-0 at Ibrox last March – but we’ll need to be switched on because they’ll punish any mistake we make.
“We’ll be focusing on that for the rest of this week because you can’t afford to give those guys opportunities. To get anything we’ll need to run non-stop for 90 minutes and that’ll be tiring but that’s what we’re looking at.
“Nobody expected us to beat them last season but we did and we can take confidence from that and realise that they’re beatable. Hopefully, we can do it again this weekend.”
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