Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin hailed goalkeeper Ryan Fulton as a hero after their 1-0 win over Morton at New Douglas Park.
Andy Winter scored his fourth goal of the season from the spot in 19 minutes to earn the points, but Fulton made top saves from Jack Baird in the first half, and sub Alex King and Calvin Miller in the second period to ensure the points stayed in Lanarkshire.
Former Hamilton midfielder Grant Gillespie was sent off for a second booking in 83 minutes and Accies held out for the points.
Rankin knows the importance of the win, which cut the gap at the bottom of the Championship to four points, with a game in hand over rivals Arbroath, and he hopes this result kicks them on.
He said: "I thought Ryan Fulton made some massive saves today.
"I've said before I think he's the best goalkeeper in the league and I stand by that.
"Today we just needed to give him a wee bit more protection, because at times it's him against strikers, but I felt we did that and he pulls off saves when he needs to.
"Not only that, Andy Winter hasn't been in a great goal-scoring position lately but I thought he showed huge balls to stand up and take the penalty.
"That composure at that time was massive for us in the game and I'm delighted for the players."
Rankin says the addition of Tom Sparrow and Dylan McGowan - who was immediately handed the captain's armband - showed his players he means business in the fight to avoid relegation.
He said: "I saw the spirit last week at Ayr, I saw it on the Friday when I brought two players in and it galvanised the dressing room, when they realised we're in here, we're going to fight and we're going to graft.
"That was a much-needed win. I thought we were good in spells today. In the second half when we were 1-0 up, you can see we're not a team that has been in that position often, and I felt we could probably have made it a wee bit more comfortable, with chances to shoot.
"But we didn't take them, or didn't look to extend the lead, and that puts us in an awkward position near the end.
"But I could see the spirit in the boys today, I could feel it this week in the build-up, and the second half against Clyde on Tuesday night [3-2 SPFL Trust Trophy quarter-final win] gave us momentum to kick on to today.
"Grant Gillespie got sent off and you think going down to 10 men should make it easier, but because we haven't been in that position for a while it becomes a wee bit uncomfortable for ourselves.
"I was really pleased for them."
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