Hearts came from a goal behind to condemn Don Cowie’s men to a sixth straight league defeat in a 3-1 victory in Dingwall on Saturday.Ronan Hale’s 14th goal of the season proved to be the only highlight as a double from a rejuvenated Lawrence Shankland and a late strike from Alan Forrest was enough to give interim manager Liam Fox a win in his first game in charge.

Hale’s strike just before the half-hour mark was as good as it got, the Irishman unleashing a brilliant strike 20 yards from goal, which was drilled into the bottom corner.

Shankland has been deployed in midfield for large parts of the season, but Fox opted for the traditional number 9 role with Elton Kabangu and James Wilson on the bench, marking a departure from the Neil Critchley era.

Those changes proved dividends as Shankland brought Hearts level just shy of half-time, the Scottish International received the ball from Beni Baningime and struck low below Jordan Amissah.

A flurry of Staggies chances and a VAR check for a penalty gave Cowie hope that they might be able to retake the lead, but it wasn’t long before Shankland fired Hearts in front, to the delight of the near-900 Hearts fans in the Highlands.

A brilliant passing move from the Jambos saw the ball worked from defence to attack, resulting in a terrific ball from Vargas across the Ross County goal, which had the Staggies defence at a standstill as Shankland was his classic predatory self and swept the ball cooly past Amissah.

Blair Spittal spent three years in the Highlands and almost hit a sweet strike from distance that cannoned off the crossbar as the Staggies looked down for the count.

Cowie made sweeping subs to try and inject some life into the County attack and claw themselves away from the relegation playoff spots. That change did little to appease the Staggies faithful, however, and the pivotal fourth goal would follow late into the game.

Akil Wright slipped under pressure from Shankland, who raced down the left and flashed the ball to an unmarked Forrest, who calmly slotted Hearts’ third to take the three points back to Edinburgh.

County remain two points behind Dundee but the threat of a third straight relegation play-off is looming large for the Dingwall side with three games remaining. They travel to Perth next weekend to take on a seemingly doomed St. Johnstone side.

Hearts are looking to finish best of the rest as they chase top  spot of the bottom half of the split in pursuit of Motherwell. With the games remaining, it remains to be seen if boss Fox can use them as an audition for his own shot of the Jambos job.

FULL-TIME: ROSS COUNTY 1 – 3 HEARTS

Ross County: Amissah; Wright, Tomkinson, Ashworth, Brown, (Nisbet 63), Kenneh, (Efete 63), Randall, Harmon, (Grieves 74); Samuel (Robesten 83), Hale, White 6 (Phillips 63).

Subs not used: Ross, Campbell, Lopata, Smith.

Hearts: Gordon; Forrester, Kent, Halkett, Penrice, Baningime, Spittal (Nieuwenhof 70), Vargas (Dhanda 80), Grant, Forrest, (Wilson 90), Shankland.

Subs not used: Fulton, Kingsley, McKay, Steinwender, Kabangu, Kartum.