Ross County boss Jim McIntyre hailed Alex Schalk’s character after the striker climbed off his sick bed to fire the Dingwall side into the top six of the Ladbrokes Premiership.

Dutchman Schalk had told McIntyre he would not be able to play in the afternoon’s crunch clash due to illness but he responded to his manager’s call to arms and struck the only goal of the game against Partick Thistle.

The 1-0 win, combined with results elsewhere, meant the League Cup winners snatched a top-six finish in the final game before the split.

McIntyre said: “Alex Schalk wasn’t playing this morning as he was ill. He phoned me up to say he wouldn’t be able to play but I told him we needed him.

“Several Hearts players just got on with it for similar reasons on Friday and we needed the wee man to do that and he has come up with the winning goal.

“He had a vomiting bug on Wednesday and stayed away on Thursday. He did some work in the gym on Friday but was still feeling ill this morning despite getting some food back down him, but I told him it wasn’t an option and he was playing.

“He deserves credit for having the character to play and score the winner.”

McIntyre was also delighted with the performance of keeper Scott Fox, back between the posts after six weeks out.

He said: “Scott Fox was also excellent. We were put under a lot of pressure but we didn’t concede too many chances, but when we did Scott was equal to them. He has continually made match-winning or point-saving saves this season and he certainly made another one when he made the block to deny Partick when they were through on goal.”

Regarding his side’s top-six finish, McIntyre said: “We made no secret at the start of the season one of our main objectives was to make the top six.

“This club has been fighting against relegation and staying up on the last day or with a game to spare for the last few years and it was a key objective to move on from that.

“We have been in the top six all season and fell out of it with a week to go which would have been sore to take. But we knew all the games were going to be tough with every team having something to play for.” He added: “We gave ourselves it all to do but the one thing about this team this season has been the character. It wasn’t pretty but we got there.”

Partick started the day a point above County in the table and level on points with sixth-placed Dundee. However, although Dundee were beaten at Hamilton, Partick could not complete their part of the equation. Manager Alan Archibald said: “It was a sore one to take. It was in our own hands, that’s what we asked for, we got that chance but we didn’t take it.

“It was a scrappy affair, there wasn’t much in it and County just edged it.”

Archibald could not fault the effort and commitment from his players, though, adding: “We threw everything at it, we had seven attacking players on the pitch at the end, we just couldn’t get that clear-cut opening.”

He added: “Our aim is to finish seventh now, we need to try and do that.”