MORTON manager Ray McKinnon was delighted to see his side triumph over early title favourites Ross County on Saturday.

The Ton secured a 2-1 win thanks to goals from Michael Tidser and Bob McHugh, after Don Cowie had opened the scoring for the visitors.

It puts the Greenock outfit second in the Championship at this early stage of the campaign.

There were a lot of positives for McKinnon, but he believes matching the physicality of County was the key to his side’s success at the weekend.

He told the Tele: “They’re a very good side, and have the strength and depth and are the early title favourites.

“They’re a big side and it was tough competing against them, but we knew that before the game.

“We’re not the biggest but they matched them all over the park in terms of the battle, and I’m delighted with the three points.”

The manager made one change from the league win away to Alloa Athletic two weeks ago, bringing in Jack Iredale for Charlie Telfer.

But it was the decision to play Iredale out on the left-wing which raised a few eyebrows pre-match, considering the Australian started as a centre-back in his last start against Dumbarton.

But McKinnon revealed it was a tactical decision, with the 22-year-old having previously played on the left wing earlier on in his career.

He added: “We watched Ross County a couple of times and saw how big and physical they were, every time we cleared the ball we didn’t want it coming straight back to us.

“We needed a physical presence up top, Denny wasn’t ready to start and Robert’s still struggling, so we made a decision to put Jack up there.

“He was playing out of position, but it was for that reason and to help us with set-pieces, as we knew we were playing against a very big and effective team in those situations.”

The manager also praised the cameo of Denny Johnstone, who returned for the first time this season for the first team.

The striker has been out since April with a knee injury, but came on for 25 minutes towards the end of the match, and helped provide the assist for Bob McHugh’s winner.

He said: “Denny Johnstone gives us that presence in the box, we’ve not had that all season and we threw him on towards the end of the game to try and win the game.

“He wins a great header for Bob McHugh, and he’s only going to get better, we’re delighted with the performance and the players deserve a lot of credit.”