STEVEN MacLean believes the secret to St Johnstone’s remarkable away record in the Highlands this season has been their overnight stays in Aviemore, courtesy of chairman Steve Brown.

A stoppage-time winner from substitute Chris Kane earned the Perth side a 2-1 victory at Ross County on Saturday, their fourth in succession at the Global Energy Stadium. Jay McEveley’s first-half own goal had earlier been cancelled out by Craig Curran.

MacLean said: “Our great record up here is maybe down to our chairman paying for our accommodation. Every time we stay at Aviemore we seem to do all right. It is a big help to us.

“It breaks the journey up, you get good food and can chill out. If you come up the day of the game it is hard to prepare. An overnight stay is definitely the trick when going to Inverness and Ross County.”

MacLean added: “Kane came on and scored a great goal for us. It was an inspired substitution by the gaffer. I think we probably just edged the game. It was just about deserved in the end.”

The win leaves fifth-placed St Johnstone with an 11-point advantage over the chasing pack in the Ladbrokes Premiership, but MacLean has warned the work is not yet done in cementing the position.

He said: “We’ve got a few games to consolidate our top-six place but this win goes a long way to getting us there.”

Curran, one of the few successes on the day for County, thought he had rescued a point with his 73rd-minute equaliser. He said: “We’re devastated really. We had some good chances. Unfortunately it didn’t go our way, but we have to put it to bed and move on.

“We have a big game next week against Aberdeen, the top six is still our aim.

“We know we are more than capable of doing it but we need to knuckle down and get the results. We have to start putting points on the table, which we will do.”