Kieran Phillips hopes he will not look back after opening his goalscoring account for Ross County.
English attacker Phillips was a January addition on a two-and-a-half year deal from Huddersfield Town, shortly after ending a successful loan stint with American outfit Sacramento Republic.
After making three substitute appearances, Phillips has started the Staggies’ last three matches and got off the mark with a close-range finish in Saturday’s 3-1 triumph over Dundee.
Born in the West Yorkshire town of Pontefract, Phillips and his partner have keenly embraced the switch to the Highlands.
The 25-year-old insists he has started his County career as he means to continue it.
Phillips said: “It’s massive, as the first one for a striker is always a big one. To get the goal, and an assist as well, hopefully I can kick on now.
“I said to my partner the area is not massively different from where we are back home – quiet countryside that is quite similar. We love it up here – and long may it continue with these results.
“I have been at places where I have not been as comfortable off the pitch and it does filter into your job no matter how hard you try.
“Once you are happy at home it helps you out on the pitch.”
Staggies showed character to come from behind against Dundee
Phillips’ 18th-minute goal was timely, as it cancelled out former Staggies striker Simon Murray’s early opener for Dundee.
Although the sides were level at the break, County raced away from the visitors inside the opening three minutes of the second half through goals from Akil Wright and Noah Chilvers.
Phillips insists his side underlined their character by coming from behind to defeat Tony Docherty’s side.
He added: “It was a good day for the team and for me, personally.
“When you concede so early you do one of two things, you either fold or you do what we did.
“We dominated the first half after that to get back into the game.
“We then took over in the second half again. It was the resilience that was important.
“I think it’s just the character of the lads. Everyone knows we have to fight for every game and we did that to get the three points.”
County making shift up Premiership table
The victory was a significant one for County, as it moved them five points clear of second-bottom Dundee and up to seventh in the table.
Don Cowie’s men are now only two points adrift of sixth-placed St Mirren, with six games remaining before the Premiership split.
Next up is a trip to bottom side St Johnstone on Wednesday, with Phillips keen to remain grounded following the Staggies’ back-to-back wins over Motherwell and the Dark Blues.
Phillips added: “We want to get as many points as we can.
“All we can do is take it game by game and now we look forward to Wednesday where we will try and do the same, and keep getting three points.
“Confidence is high for sure but it means nothing. You know what football is like so you just have to take every game as it comes.”
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