THE first thing to say about this game is that it was not pretty, nor even remotely attractive to watch.

But then Derek McInnes has never purported to favour entertainment over results and if you’re an Aberdeen supporter, to see your team sit nine points clear of the Rangers in second place in the Ladbrokes Premiership will help you sleep easier.

The statistics are what matter, they will tell you, and they show that the Aberdeen manager has led his side to 30 home points from a possible 39 this season, with their only defeat a 1-0 loss to Celtic last October.

And consider this; McInnes’ men were seven points behind Rangers in December, a fact indicative of Aberdeen’s diligence and determination to secure that runners-up place.

“It's quickly gone to such a big lead,” he said. “We're 14 points ahead of Hearts as well.

“It's gone quickly to that which suggests it can go just as quickly the other way.

“We've got to make sure that although it's good to look at the league table now, that we want to look at it with the same pleasure at the end of the season.

“There's still too many games for us to play to think we're home and hosed. We're obviously in a strong position, but we've got work to do and we've got to keep getting three points.

“The thing that is clear is that you can see the players enjoying winning, enjoying working hard and the togetherness of the team.”

As he has been so many times this season, Adam Rooney was the Aberdeen hero with a solitary – if fortunate - strike, his 17th of the season, with a little more than twenty minutes to play.

His willingness to scrap for every ball liable to become available brought praise from McInnes who described him as “worth his weight in gold”.

But the Pittodrie outfit’s policy is play on the front foot and that suits Rooney’s style, refusing to allow the Staggies to settle, expecting that, in time, they would have been sufficiently worn out to be edged towards capitulation. And so it proved.

The ease with which they won most of the high balls, not to say the resultant knock-downs, would have alarmed Jim McIntyre, their manager, as he was subjected to desperate defending from his team.

Rooney’s dramatic scissors kick in the 36th minutes as he latched-on Ryan Jack’s header thrilled the home crowd, despite a simple save by Scott Fox who’s acrobatics in the Ross County goal soon after were deployed to prevent his side from going behind.

Joe Lewis’ call to arms, a minute before the interval, was even more impressive, however.

As Alex Schalk’s 20-yard free-kick dipped and swerved and changed direction, the Aberdeen keeper had to compensate to effect his eye-catching save while Craig Curran’s attempt to convert the rebound, was off target.

And, as he walked towards the changing-room for his half-time cuppa, Rooney would have rued his inability to connect properly with Jonny Hayes’s low cross in front of goal with only Fox between him and the opener.

As if to balance that out, Schalk’s hit a 25-yard screamer of a strike immediately after the re-start as Lewis produced another stunning stop while moment later, the keeper’s courage was paraded.

Schalk’s close-range flick-on from Andrew Davies’s header meant Lewis had to throw himself on to the County striker’s boot to block the effort.

But, when the Staggies’ defence took a collective eye off Rooney, the big Irishman ran to the near post, just where he needed to be when Kenny McLean’s low ball in from the right hit Davies on the shin before the Reds’ striker touched it past Fox.

Had Fox not produced yet another stunning save soon after, Rooney would have grabbed a second with his spectacular scissors kick from 12 yards.

County now find themselves swimming in relegation territory, just three points above bottom club Hamilton Accies although McIntyre put on brave face.

“The boys were excellent,” he insisted, “stuck to the game-plan and frustrated Aberdeen to shots from distance.

“To lose the goal the way we did was just the way it’s been going. The first goal is huge in this league as the stats show.

“Aberdeen had a few chances late on when we had to chase the game, but our system was good for 70 minutes.

“We won’t feel sorry for ourselves because if we keep up that level of intensity and performance, we will get points and it will turn.

“Three weeks in a row we have lost late goals and it’s been sore, but we need to start punishing teams when we get our chances.

“The boys are doing everything they can and we’ll stick together.

“I know we are a good side, but we are in a dogfight right now and there is no two-ways about it.

“Every team from sixth-placed down is in that dogfight and it’s up to us to rise to that challenge, which we will when I see what I am seeing.

“It doesn’t worry me. It will turn. You can’t have as much bad luck as that. It’ll turn.”