Shayden Morris' "amazing" strike gave Aberdeen a narrow Scottish Premiership victory over Ross County, continuing their recent renaissance in form.

The result keeps Jimmy Thelin's fourth-placed side on the coattails of third-placed Hibernian and leaves County looking over their shoulder at the wrong end of the table, with their scant top-six hopes finally extinguished.

Morris scored the winner in the 33rd minute and, in doing so, put his name on the list for goal of the season contenders.

Picking the ball up on the halfway line, he burst down the right before unleashing an unstoppable angled shot which crashed off the underside of the crossbar on its way into the net.

"It was difficult for us to create chances but I've looked at Shayden's goal and it's amazing," Thelin said. "We're happy, they are three important points for us.

"If you look at his journey this year, the assists and goals he gets, how he defends... it's good to see players take steps and grow.

"It's a lot of work from his side, he has a strong mentality, he pushes himself."

The away side had prevailed in the two previous meetings of these sides and that, coupled with the high stakes in Dingwall, meant this latest edition of the fixture very much fell into the unpredictable category.

County were the first to threaten with Jordan White heading weakly at Ross Doohan from a few yards out.

At the other end, Kevin Nisbet forced a good save from Jordan Amissah, who did well to get a hand to his angled effort.

Amissah was called into action again when Topi Keskinen played in Morris, but the County goalkeeper produced another fine stop to block.

The home side made an impressive start to the second half, with Doohan doing well to tip a low Connor Randall shot round a post.

But Amissah was called into action with a good reaction save as Pape Gueye flicked on Jeppe Okkels' cross.

Aberdeen ended up hanging on, and County almost found a last-gasp equaliser when Ronan Hale had one shot well saved before firing a rasping rebound just wide.

There is never a good time to go on a poor run, but the harsh reality is that County have now won just one of their last five league games, losing four.

A return of just one point from 15 has very much stalled County's revival.

Don Cowie will know that if that form continues, there is every chance they will find themselves embroiled in the battle at the bottom again.

County have relied on play-offs to preserve their top-flight status in the each of the last two seasons and, while they may be accustomed to what is required, they will be desperate to avoid having to go through it again.

Scoring has been a problem of late, and the pre-match news that Noah Chilvers will miss the rest of the season after injuring his ACL in training is a huge blow.

This season will go down as one of the more bizarre in Aberdeen's recent history.

After a remarkable winning start, there was an arguably even more remarkable winless run, which has been followed by a more positive return to form.

In fact, they will be happy to forget what happened in the middle if this is a campaign bookended by a couple of very favourable sequences.

It's all about the destination, rather than the journey, for Aberdeen fans.

Securing their top-six status last weekend was one objective ticked off. Now, it's all about chasing down a European place, and trying to secure third spot.

On the evidence of this, Jimmy Thelin's side appear to be very well-placed to mount a concerted challenge.

His squad has several key players missing, but they look more assured at the back and have a cutting edge up front – a combination Thelin will be hoping can get them over the line.

Ross County boss Don Cowie: "It was a tight game. We got done by a moment of real quality, a fantastic goal from Shayden Morris.

"I didn't think there was too much in the game, lots of endeavour, lots of effort from both teams. Challenging conditions with the wind. I'm just frustrated we didn't create any real opportunities to hurt Aberdeen."

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin: "We were prepared for a difficult game. there was a lot of second balls. They are good at that, but we were really stable as a team today. Everybody took responsibility. We kept them out for most of the game.

"We don't think about [other games]. We have to keep winning our games, and not think about other teams."