LISTEN: John Hughes says St Johnstone defeat was the worst he has seen Ross County
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ROSS County manager John Hughes is warning his players not to let the pressure of the relegation battle get to them as they head into the final five games of the regular season.
Listen to the full press conference below
The Staggies suffered a late defeat to St Johnstone as Glenn Middleton scored three minutes from time to give the Perth outfit a 1–0 victory.
After defeating Kilmarnock 3–2 earlier this month, Ross County have lost their last two league matches and Hughes says they can’t afford to get into a slump as they head into the split.
“I see them on the training pitch and their wonderful play and I think, wow,” he said.
“But you need to bring it on a Saturday, go out on the pitch and have trust in each other and go and make it happen.
“It is not nice and I’ve been there myself. I’m here to help.
“Is it pressure or a challenge? You need to see it as a challenge.
“You can’t let the pressure win to affect your game.
“It is disappointing when you see players do wonderful things on a training pitch and not replicate that on a Saturday.
“It might be like that for the next five games.”
However, Hughes says vast improvement will be required after he said he witnessed County’s worst performance during his reign at Perth.
“That is the worst that we have been, especially in the first half, since I have come to the club. In the second half we were better.
“Its not been like them, we let ourselves down at Ibrox, but I felt we were second best all over the pitch. But more importantly, second best in looking after the ball and passing it, and being comfortable on the ball, it was like a hot potato.”
But he believes his club have the quality to stay in the top flight.
“My frustration is they have been better than what they’ve showed at St Johnstone,” he said.
“You don’t beat the top teams in the league unless you’ve got it in you.
“That is all credit to the boys for getting a lot of big results to give us that opportunity.
“You need courage to be the player that you think you are and show it up in training and light it up.
“If you do that you’ll be all right.”
