Livingston loss is a reality check for Ross County
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ROSS Stewart believes Ross County will have to shake off the disappointment of Saturday’s wake-up call against Livingston quickly to be ready for Aberdeen.
Fresh from a 4-1 beating in Dingwall, County have to lift spirits and head to Pittodrie on Saturday for, arguably, one of the toughest away tests of the season.
Stewart netted County’s only goal at the weekend, but accepted collective blame for the meek manner by which his team capitulated.
The 23-year-old former St Mirren and Albion Rovers striker said: “We’re a very close dressing room and there were a lot of boys hurting in there on Saturday evening.
“But we need to get back up again – and quickly – because the games are coming thick and fast. There’s no time to feel sorry for yourselves in this league.
“We have to be ready to go come the Aberdeen game because we need to get a positive result.”
Stewart struggled to explain what went wrong against Livingston.
While missing Ross Draper, Lee Erwin and Brian Graham, the team featured just one change from the side that had hammered Hamilton 3-0 three weeks before.
He feels the deflation of losing the fourth goal is the kind of setback County must learn to deal with.
He said: “I think this is a bit of a reality check as to what the Premiership is like.
“We started very well in the league, but we just weren’t at it on Saturday and the fourth goal has killed us. It was a great finish from the boy.
“But the games come thick and fast. We’ve got to dust ourselves down. As a team, we’ll look over this performance and we need to re-focus because it’s another tough game next week against Aberdeen.
“We have to learn from it. Livingston are a big, physical side and on Saturday we didn’t match them as well as we’d have liked.
“Aberdeen, I would imagine, would be quite similar. We need to be prepared for that again.
“Coming this early, it is maybe good to get a lesson like this because it can prepare you for tougher games down the line.”
