Caretaker boss Liam Fox hails display of Hearts’ stars in victory at Ross County

Hearts caretaker manager Liam Fox hailed the impact of his star performers in the Jambos’ 3-1 win over Ross County.

The Tynecastle outfit were led to victory by club captain Lawrence Shankland, who backed up his strike in the Scottish Cup semi-final with a double in Dingwall, as well as an assist for Alan Forrest’s third.

There were plenty of other big performers in a match which came at the end of a turbulent week in the capital, with the likes of James Penrice and Blair Spittal regularly posing threats to their hosts’ defence.

Fox, taking the helm following the departure of former manager Neil Critchley seven days earlier, said there was never any doubt about the influence Shankland has on the team, while acknowledging his football philosophy potentially gives others more freedom to showcase their ability.

“Lawrence’s quality has never been in doubt,” Fox said. “He’s had a bit of a drought, but if you work on getting the ball to him then he’ll put chances away.

“I see the game as a structure when you don’t have the ball, but having a bit of freedom when you do.

“We’ve got good football players at this club, which makes it easier.

“There were good things from the game and loads of stuff we can improve on. We’ll review it all, but my biggest positive is how we reacted after going a goal down to come back and get the three points.”

Fox’s opposite number at Ross County, Don Cowie, may be left grateful results elsewhere mean the Staggies did not lose any more ground in the race to avoid relegation.

In particular, Motherwell secured a comeback win over Dundee despite being reduced to 10 men with the scores level, meaning County remain two points behind the Dens Park side.

However, the silver lining may take a while to creep in, with Cowie admitting: “It doesn’t feel like a boost right now, but we haven’t lost any ground on Dundee.

“They are still a target for us to chase down and we still have to play them.

“We have to make sure that we give ourselves a good opportunity to win the game against St Johnstone next Saturday.

“If we do that, it gives us a good platform going into Dundee.”