Boyce secures safety for County
Ross County secured their top-flight status as a late goal from Liam Boyce clinched a battling 2-1 home victory over Hamilton.
With Motherwell losing 2-1 to St Mirren at Paisley, County's win guaranteed them Scottish Premiership safety for another season.
Lucas Tagliapietra headed Hamilton into the lead in the 28th minute for the only goal of a keenly contested first half.
Michael Gardyne levelled just before the hour mark with a stunning drive from outside the area and Boyce hit the winner with four minutes to spare with a close-range shot, despite County being down to 10 men after Filip Kiss saw red.
County created the first real chance of the match in the third minute when Raffaele De Vita cut the ball back for Craig Curran whose shot looked net-bound but Michael McGovern got a hand to it to turn it behind for a corner.
At the other end Hamilton forced a couple of corners and Jesus Garcia Tena had a chance but his shot flew over the crossbar.
Garcia Tena forced a fine save from Antonio Reguero following another Ali Crawford corner.
It was end-to-end action and Gardyne fired past McGovern's left-hand post after he weaved his way into a shooting position.
But it was Hamilton who took the lead in the 28th minute when Tagliapietra towered above the County defence to nod in another Crawford corner.
County thought they had equalised seven minutes later when a Jamie Reckord cross into the box was missed by Boyce and turned into the side netting by Curran.
The home side had strong claims for a penalty turned down in the final minute of the half when Gardyne appeared to be impeded by Kieran MacDonald just inside the box.
County made a positive start to the second half and were seeing plenty of the ball.
The home side made an early change when Tony Dingwall replaced Curran and the youngster immediately made an impact.
County were well on top and Martin Woods forced a fine save from McGovern in the 58th minute when he touched over. From the corner Kiss knocked on Woods' delivery and when the ball broke to Gardyne just outside the 18-yard box he smashed a low drive into the corner of the net.
Boyce appeared to be impeded by Tagliapietra as he tried to get behind the Hamilton defence but referee Bobby Madden let play go on.
County were reduced in number when Kiss was dismissed after an incident in the penalty area, but they grabbed the winner when the visitors' defence failed to clear and Boyce pounced to fire the ball into the net.
The County goal survived a scare deep in injury time when Crawford rattled the crossbar with a 20-yard drive.
Source: PA
