JACK Ross admitted to a sense of relief after a 2-0 win at Inverness on Saturday helped St Mirren stay on the tails of Ladbrokes Championship leaders Dundee United.

Ian MacShane opened the scoring with an early second-half penalty. The home side lost Iain Vigurs to a second yellow card with 12 minutes to play and Gavin Reilly added St Mirren’s second in added time.

The Paisley side have a game in hand over United, who drew 1-1 away to bottom side Brechin City, but manager Ross said: “We knew the consequences of not achieving a good result could have been big – we could have dropped several places. But we went to a really difficult place against a team who are in great form and won, which is brilliant.”

Scott McDonald had Csaba Laszlo’s men ahead at Glebe Park but Sean Crighton equalised and Tam Scobbie was then sent off after a second yellow card. Manager Laszlo said: “I am so sorry for the fans because they came in huge numbers.

“The most painful thing is we had everything in our hands and we gave it away. If you miss chances, the opponent can always be dangerous.”