RETURNING captain Paul Quinn was delighted with the determination shown by Ross County in their gritty 2-1 home victory over Aberdeen on Saturday.

Quinn, right, who missed County’s previous five outings with a hamstring injury, put in an inspired performance at the heart of the defence.

Liam Boyce opened the scoring as County shaded the first half. Aberdeen dominated after the break and substitute Niall McGinn levelled before the dismissal of Kenny van der Weg for a reckless challenge on Jonny Hayes left County a man short. However, the home side grabbed a dramatic late winner when substitute Ryan Dow headed home from close range.

Quinn, who rejoined County from Aberdeen at the start of the season, said: “I’m just glad to get back and obviously the result against one of the best teams in the league makes it sweeter. We’ve had indifferent performances during the season, we’ve lost a lot of points where we’ve felt we deserved more. So we’ve changed a few things and we’ve worked really hard.”

Although he admitted the match could have gone either way, Quinn added: “It isn’t a surprise to us that we end up getting a victory against one of the best teams in the league. We showed courage and determination to go on and win it.”

He also had special praise for Boyce. “He’s just getting better and better,” Quinn said. “He finds pockets, makes clever runs and gets us up the pitch. We are trying to play to his strengths without just lumping it long and playing off scraps. Liam has a flash of brilliance. We see it in training every day, we are lucky to have him.”

Looking ahead to County’s busy festive schedule, which includes home fixtures against Partick Thistle and Inverness, either side of a trip to Celtic, Quinn went on: “We have a busy schedule but we know we have a good squad, so we have players to come in when others are injured or rested. I’m sure that will stand us in good stead for this busy period.”

Aberdeen fell seven points behind second-placed Rangers after the defeat. Manager Derek McInnes said: “We wanted to stay at least unbeaten at a difficult venue, but we haven’t managed to do that. We start again from next week and we aim to address one or two things we can do better.

“But it is always important we remind the players of the good things they did. Ultimately, it’s the result that matters, but the performance from a lot of the players was more than decent.”

“I’m looking for a wee bit more from one or two others, and it’s important we knuckle down.

“We have a game in hand and we are the only team in the top six who have played Celtic twice. We still have opportunities to win enough points.”