Referee calls have fuelled Ross County out of relegation zone
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Ross County manager John Hughes says that refereeing decisions that have gone against them has provided extra motivation for his players.
The Staggies were particularly aggrieved with a penalty call away at St Mirren two weeks ago, that would see Jim Goodwin’s men claim all three points in Paisley.
Although not as debated, Kilmarnock threatened to claw back a two-goal deficit towards the end of last weekend’s game, after Kyle Lafferty converted another penalty.
Rather than be downhearted about those calls going against them though, Hughes says they have driven the County squad on to make sure those moments are not decisive.
“We have to be at our best, and get a little bit of luck,” he said.
“That’s something that hasn’t been going for us over the last few weeks in terms of refereeing decisions.
“I’m actually quite happy about that, because it gives you fuel.
“We’re not complaining about it, we just need to be better for it and rise above it, and the boys have done that.
“The only way you can do that is by getting back to winning ways, so from now until the end of the season we need to keep doing what we’re doing.”
Going into tomorrow’s match against Hibernian, County’s form has been the definition of up and down.
Defeats to Dundee United and St Mirren were sandwiched between triumphs over Hamilton, Celtic and Kilmarnock.
Hughes, though, thinks maintaining that may well be enough to keep the Staggies up.
“If we go win, loss, win, loss until the end of the season, I think that might be good enough to keep us up, so I’d settle for that,” he said.
“The players have a wee bit more to go, but I don’t think we’re going to dominating the ball in games.
“I’m just asking the guys to do the fundamentals right, be up for the game and mentally ready to do, put the yards in and not let their team-mates down.”
