Malky Mackay feels Ross County’s squad-building efforts are starting to show after they claimed their first league win of the season against St Johnstone.
County will now take a break from Premiership action to face second-tier side Airdrieonians away from home in the last-16 of the Viaplay Cup next Saturday.
Turner’s goal came just six minutes after he replaced Yan Dhanda, who was forced off after a suffering a hip injury following a heavy challenge from Ryan McGowan.
Mackay also handed a debut to his latest recruit Ryan Leak, who partnered Jack Baldwin in defence after Will Nightingale was ruled out with a thigh injury.
The Staggies boss is thrilled with the options at his disposal.
He said: “This is what we’re trying to do this year. Players coming off the bench are hungry and desperate to be as good as what’s already on the pitch.
“Yan took a bad bang to his hip and has a huge purple bruise – I thought it was a terrible challenge.
“Kyle came on and took up that similar position – and was calm on the ball, broke forward and got his goal.
“His deliveries were just as good as Yan’s.
“I’m happy with the depth of the squad.
“Simon Murray and Jordan White’s performances were excellent today. They just need to convert that into goals.
“Josh Sims had chances and was excellent and we had deliveries coming in from James Brown I thought were sensational.”
Staggies denied further goals
County would have run out more comfortable winners but for an excellent display by Saints goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov, with Mackay pleased with the goalscoring threat his side produced.
Mackay added: “It’s a great result – a clean sheet at home on the second day of the season.
“The pitch is great and we get three points. The crowd go home happy.
“We created a lot of chances and defended when we needed to defend.
“I knew we would have to win the midfield battle. St Johnstone were really sticky against Hearts last week and made it tricky for them in that midfield area.
“I knew if we won that battle we’d be able to expose certain areas of the pitch.
“I was probably a little bit disappointed at half-time that it wasn’t put to bed.
“We had some great opportunities in the first half. On any given day, we might have been 4-0 up and the game is dead – but it wasn’t.
“Kyle Turner scores a good goal, but at 1-0 we realised Steven MacLean would be getting torn into St Johnstone and that they would come out flying.
“In those situations, the opposition can be a bit carefree and play passes they wouldn’t normally play because they have to get back into it.
“For 15 minutes, we settled it down and made sure we defended properly.
“They have height and Graham Carey has a good left foot, but we defended well at set-plays.
“We scored another cracker and could have scored another three or four. Overall, I’m really happy.”
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