Kilmarnock boss Derek McInnes hailed his side’s refusal to settle for a draw as Marley Watkins struck a late winner against Rangers.
The Welshman snuck in behind John Souttar to poke the ball beyond Jack Butland for the game’s only goal in the 87th minute at Rugby Park.
That late show came off the back of Killie taking all three points at Dundee last time out despite being two goals down with just four minutes left on the clock.
The win makes it six games unbeaten as lifts the Ayrshire outfit into seventh place ahead of this weekend’s trip north to take on Ross County.
A delighted McInnes said: “For me, this win illustrates fitness, it illustrates the strength of the squad, and it also illustrates a real determination.
“I don’t think any of my players at any point settled for 0-0, which wouldn’t have been the worst result.
“You would take positives from the performance, but I felt and still hoped there was a bit more on the bone for us. Thankfully, we managed to get that.”
He added; “I do think that we’re well up and running now. It’s one of the trade-offs of playing in Europe competitively.
“The players physically are in a good place. The fitness of the players is good. Competitively, we’ve got loads of games under our belt. The trade-off for that, early in the season, domestically, we weren’t quite at our best.
“But today I thought tactically we were good, but more important when you play Rangers and Celtic when they come here, it’s that mental part of it.
“I thought the mental strength of the team was good. They always felt there was something, a win there for us. Thankfully, we managed to see that through.”
While Watkins was the match-winner, and substitute David Watson teed up him up just seconds after coming off the bench, McInnes highlighted the display of Brad Lyons and the back four as they picked up a first domestic clean sheet of the campaign.
He said: “I thought all my defenders were first class. I thought Robbie Deas did really well, I thought Stu Finlay was alert, hugely experienced, and the full-backs were terrific as well.
“But I do think it’s right to name check Brad. He wasn’t alone, and to beat a team like Rangers, you have to do a lot right as a team but Brad got about his work brilliantly.
“Obviously he’s become a Northern Ireland internationalist, came back, just trained with us on Thursday for the first time after not seeing him for a bit.
“He came up with a big moment last season when we beat Rangers, and I thought he was really influential.
“He’s a real competitor in there. I’m fortunate I’ve got some good options, but the team, everybody played their part today.”