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Manager Paul Hartley and defender Scott Ross spoke to the media after our 1-0 cinch League One victory over Montrose at Balmoral Stadium.

Rory McAllister scored early on as  we claimed all three points, despite the fact Mitch Megginson, Shay Logan and Iain Vigurs were forced to go off after suffering injuries during the first half.

Paul said: “It was a gutsy performance by us, especially in the second half, when it was really tough.

“We played some great stuff in the first half, even though we had to change things because of the substitutions.

“This was probably the first time this season when we had almost a full squad to choose from, so it was disappointing to get those three injuries, to key players, within that first period.”

“The second half was a bit different, we had to defend in numbers.

“Sometimes you have to do that, go backs to the wall to win games.

“It shows you the character and desire of the group that we’ve got here.

“They showed they are a resilient lot, they (Montrose) didn’t cause us too many problems, while we were always a threat on the counter attack.

“It’s another clean sheet too, that’s eight in our last nine, and nine wins on the bounce, so we are doing okay.”

When asked to comment on Rory netting the winner with what was his 16th goal of the campaign, Paul said: “He’s not bad at it, Rory has done okay over the course of his career, with a couple of hundred goals.

“His work rate was terrific too, he interrupted their play because Rory is also a really good team player.

“He is getting better with age because he is looking after himself.

“It was a great striker’s goal and it came from something we had worked on during the week, flashing balls across the face (of goal) for someone to tap in.

“I’m pleased because we are strong at home, we are undefeated here (Balmoral Stadium) all season.

“We just have to keep winning and grinding out results.

“Our last three games have been 1-0, but you have to do that if you have any aspirations to do something in a season.

“We are top of the league, but I know how things can change quickly in football.

“We have to keep emptying the tank every week, we have to just keep going.”

Centre-back Scott believes we are reaping the rewards of adding some extra quality to the squad before the start of the campaign.

He said: “The second half was all about defending strongly and we did that as a unit, from Rory and Leighton (McIntosh) up front, all the way back.

“That was despite things going against us in the first half because we had to make the three changes.

“We started the afternoon with almost a full squad, so finding ourselves three men down before half-time was tough.

“But the boys who came on were brilliant and helped us dig in to get the three points.

“It’s been happening all season because we have real strength in depth now.

“We maybe lacked a wee bit of that last season and it made it difficult for us towards the end.

“It’s different this time around and that’s down to the good work done by the management team with their signings.

“We got off to a slow start, although that was more down to the problems we experienced because of Covid.

“But we are now reaping the rewards of having a squad of players who can drop into the team seamlessly and help us to do what is required to win games.

“All credit to Montrose for making it tough for us, they are a fantastic team, one of the best footballing ones in our league.

“But we were able to stand up to what they threw at us and that was very pleasing.”

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