Ross County manager Jim McIntyre was not prepared to abandon his attacking principles during his side’s dismal Premiership run.
The Staggies lost five out of six matches before stopping the bleeding with Saturday’s excellent 3-1 win at Hamilton.
McIntyre played two attackers at New Douglas Park, as he has all season in red 4-4-2 formation, with Liam Boyce and Craig Curran both on target against Accies.
The duo have now scored 20 goals this season, and McIntyre said their form and goals vindicated his decision to operate with two up front throughout the campaign.
McIntyre said: “A lot gets made of a system playing with two forwards. Systems become fashionable, with teams playing 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3, and people who say teams cannot play with two forwards in the modern game are talking a load of rubbish.
“It’s about having good players who take instructions on well and are then given a freedom to go and play.
“I’m really pleased with the type of squad we’ve got and I believe we’ve got to attack teams.
“Liam looks like scoring in most games and it was great to see Craig get his goal against Hamilton on Saturday.
“The partnership is very strong and they’re a major focal point in our team.
“Liam has been getting a lot of plaudits, and rightly so, but he’ll be the first to tell you he gets a lot of help. It’s a real team effort. We’ve got such a good bunch of players who work their backsides off.
“Even when we were in a sticky period where we weren’t getting results, they were still doing the right things. We were just missing that bit of quality in front of goal.”
McIntyre was also impressed with the impact of his substitutes on Saturday, with midfielder Stewart Murdoch netting the second goal and wide player Michael Gardyne, back from injury, setting up the decisive third.
The Staggies manager reckons the pair have done their chances of a starting berth no harm, and he added: “We made positive substitutions because we wanted to win the match. We felt we had the momentum after equalising and wanted to capitalise on that.
“Any time I make substitutions I’m hopeful they will give the team a spark. All the substitutes did that and played their part.
“It was nice to see Stewart score. He was unlucky to miss out because he’s been fantastic, playing out of position for us. But like all good professionals he addressed it in the proper manner, came on and got his goal.
“We put him on the left-hand side when we brought him on to add a steel to our play, but he went and got the goal. Michael’s directness and quality allowed us to get that third goal.”