Hearts caretaker manager Liam Fox admits watching his side fight back to beat Ross County came as a relief after a testing week at Tynecastle following the dismissal of Neil Critchley.
A double from Lawrence Shankland either side of half-time saw the Jambos overturn a deficit given to County by Ronan Hale midway through the first half in Dingwall.
The Jambos skipper then turned provider late on to tee up Alan Forrest to seal a 3-1 win for Hearts with just under 10 minutes to go.
Victory in the club’s first match since Critchley was sacked as manager came as a welcome boost for a side who now sit eight points clear of the bottom two with three matches to play, and Fox says it was a good moment watching Forrest’s clincher hit the back of the net.
“It was probably a bit of relief at the end of what has been a difficult week,” he said.
“I knew how important the game was today off the back of that, and what the supporters would demand from this football club.
“I’ve been trying to enjoy this week as well, because it’s a huge privilege to manage this club, even if it’s just for one match. It’s been emotional.
“Now I can personally enjoy the bus journey to Aviemore, and then our focus will switch to Motherwell.
“We still have work to do, for sure. We’ll be back to work on Monday, and then until someone tells me differently we’ll start looking towards the next game.”
Ross County manager Don Cowie, on the other hand, was left assessing his side’s fight against the drop after suffering sixth successive defeat.
It is a run of results that has seen the Staggies go from believing they were in contention for the top six, to sitting two points adrift of Dundee in the relegation play-off zone.
The County boss admits his team’s form is a concern going into the final week of the season, saying: “It’s a big concern. It’s a challenging period, and I’m not going to hide from that.
“We’ve had plenty of challenging periods in my career to get to here, so it’s nothing I haven’t faced before.
“As a group, we know what’s at stake. There are three games in the space of a week, and if we win all three we will be in the Premiership next season.
“That’s the challenge, and it starts against St Johnstone next Saturday.”
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