Ross County sack manager Jim McIntyre and assistant Billy Dodds

Jim McIntyre and Billy Dodds leave Ross County in 10th place in the Premiership

Ross County have sacked manager Jim McIntyre and his assistant Billy Dodds with the Staggies sitting 10th in the Scottish Premiership.

Academy director Steven Ferguson takes over in a caretaker role.

McIntyre replaced sacked boss Derek Adams at County in September 2014 having previously been in charge at Queen of the South for 15 months.

"We would like to thank Jim and Billy for their dedication and hard work at the club," read a club statement.

"In particular [we] would like to acknowledge their achievement in guiding the club to winning its first piece of major silverware. We wish them both well for the future."

County say their recruitment process to find a replacement is under way.

McIntyre guided the Highlanders to their first major trophy, a 2-1 victory over Hibernian in the 2015-16 League Cup final. They defeated Celtic 3-1 in the semi-final of the competition.

He enjoyed a successful start to the current season, his team winning League Cup matches in July in normal time against Alloa and Montrose, then penalty shoot-out victories over Hibernian and Arbroath.

County's Premiership campaign began with a win over Dundee at Dens Park before a run of losses to Motherwell, Aberdeen and Rangers in the league and to the Steelmen in the League Cup.

A draw with Partick Thistle put them in ninth position in the table at the start of September, but successive defeats by Celtic and Hibernian leaves them only a point clear of the bottom clubs, Partick Thistle and Kilmarnock.