Delighted Micky Mellon praised his Dundee United team for delivering their first win of 2021 and insisted it should be a big step forward in their season.
Goals from Lawrence Shankland and Ryan Edwards handed United a long overdue win at Ross County.
United hadn’t won in eight games and if County had beaten them they would have pulled them back into the relegation scrap.
Instead they are now just outside the top six.
Mellon, who has now guided his side to three wins over County, said: “It was a massive result.
“I won’t change what I believe my job is here and that's to keep moving forward and developing my team into Premiership players and that is what I will continue to do.
“There were loads off positives.
“We understood we had to come up here and get a result and we understood what a big game it was.
“We showed great composure in doing that and playing well over 90 minutes.”
The United boss also gave a special mention to Shankland who has missed two decent chances before he got off the mark.
Mellon added: “I said to him at half-time what does a good player do, Lawrence?
“He said 'Don’t get disappointed', he moves on and believes at some stage he will get there because he is a good player.
“He knew he couldn’t dwell on the earlier chances and these are lessons the boys are learning.
“They are coming out of the Championship and people forget that. They are learning all the time.
“I am not making excuses because I am one of them.
“When the learning opportunities come then we have to learn from it and that was a big step forward for us.”
It was an afternoon of disappointment for second-bottom County after they lost the opening goal.
White and Mackay had made the headlines for County, coming off the bench, to get the goals and points at Hamilton.
Manager John Hughes rewarded them both with starts, while experienced Carl Tremarco came in, with the injured Iain Vigurs missed out while Oli Shaw and Alex Iacovitti dropped to the bench.
United also made two changes from the side who lost at Motherwell.
Peter Pawlett and Mark Reynolds came in for Nicky Clark and Ian Harkes.
United keeper Benjamin Siegrist made two early stops to deny Jermaine Hylton and to gather Tony Andreu’s shot.
Leo Hjelde had a lapse in concentration and that let Lawrence Shankland in, but his touch was too heavy and he pushed it too wide beyond Ross Laidlaw and out of play.
The Scotland striker was then played in by Liam Smith after a fine dummy by Peter Pawlett but Laidlaw managed to get a hand on the ball, as he stretched to knock it past him.
Both sides tried to get the ball wide and into the box, knowing the importance of a win.
Andreu, who linked the ball well in the final third, stepped in from the right and curled wide, while United’s Adrian Sporle had an effort from distance which was stopped and gathered by Laidlaw.
County nearly caught United cold after the restart.
Andreu and Hilton combined to play in Mckay but Siegriest came off his line to block.
County were the better team at that stage and had plenty of possession in and around the final third but they just couldn’t find a way through.
A good move across the pitch from Hylton found White but he slashed his shot disappointingly wide.
United then made their toothless hosts pay when they took the lead through a well-worked goal in the 64th minute.
Jamie Robson played it on to Shankland who found Jeando Fuchs, He slid it on to Liam Smith and he picked out Shankland who made a fine run before he slotted it past Laidlaw.
It was a real setback and Hughes turned to his bench to try and change the outcome of a game for the second match running.
Shaw, Michael Gardyne and Charlie Lakin came on for Hylton, Mckay and Harry Paton.
Set pieces have been United’s Achilles heel in recent weeks but in this game it was to be their get-out.
Peter Pawlett’s corner from the right was headed in by Edwards.
It gave the hosts some breathing space as did the three points.
