Ross County manager Don Cowie looking for redemption as Staggies return to scene of ‘angriest moment of the season’ in Perth to face St Johnstone
The last time Ross County played in Perth, it was an experience to forget for Don Cowie and his squad – but now the Staggies boss is asking his players to go and redeem themselves.
In many ways, that was a low point of the Dingwall outfit’s season so far, but since the festive period County have picked up a head of steam.
Only losing in Premiership action to Celtic and Rangers since Boxing Day, they have managed to open up a gap over St Johnstone, who are rooted to the bottom of the table.
Win in the penultimate midweek set of fixtures this season, and the Staggies would go 14 points of their Perth hosts.
However, knowing that practically everything that could go wrong, did go wrong last time his charges visited St Johnstone, Cowie is taking nothing for granted this time around.
“Despite losing two players in the game at different times, we didn’t do ourselves justice down there. We didn’t enjoy how we started the game, and that was probably the angriest and most frustrated I’ve been this season.
“It wasn’t us, and going into this game that may be something where we ask the players to put that right.
“The last couple of weeks have had a big impact on the league table with us getting maximum points. St Johnstone are where they are in the table, but I still think they are a good, dangerous team.
“I can’t hide away from the fact that if we get three points, the gap becomes really big, but the challenge has always been to improve – especially on last season, when we finished 11th in the league.
“That is still the challenge. It’s still really tight and congested where we are.”
While County go move well clear of the foot of the table if they win tomorrow night, they could also close the gap to the top six.
Currently two points away from sixth-placed St Mirren, whose next opponents Hearts lie between the two clubs, victory would give the Staggies a real chance of finishing in the top half of the table.
For now, though, it is a non-issue as far as Cowie is concerned.
“The boring answer is that we’re not speaking about it,” he added.
“That’s just me being honest. You can see how quickly the league is changing. Three points can have a massive bearing on where you are in the table.
“What I did speak about a couple of weeks ago was that we had played the Old Firm and probably the most in form team in the country in Hibs.
“At that point, we had eight games before the split, and the challenge was to accumulate as many points as possible. We got six points from the first two, and the third game is St Johnstone.
“Genuinely, that is our only focus. We want to win the game, and then we’ll see where we are, because there are so many other matches going on that could impact where you are in the league.”
