Ross County winger says club can't put survival on the spot again
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JOSH Sims says Ross County won’t allow themselves to get involved in another relegation dogfight in the Premiership this season.
Sims was the hero for the Staggies in the epic play-off final against Partick Thistle last season, when he scored the winning penalty which maintained their Premiership status.
But the winger says the club have no intention of waiting until the final day of the season to secure their place in the top flight again.
Sims says the feeling of the play-off final is still fresh in the memory of players at Ross County, which is driving them on to make sure they have a better campaign this term.
Speaking about escaping relegation with victory in the play-offs last season, he said: “I don’t think that will be on anybody’s cards this year.
“It was a tricky season last year and one where we should have done a lot better in.
“We have to take the feeling from the last game when we beat Partick Thistle on penalties and say to ourselves we can’t be in that situation again.
“Every game we need to be super motivated, not to be down there.”
But Sims says there is confidence in the squad that they can steer clear bottom of the table and aim higher in the division for this season.
He believes manager Malky Mackay securing the signatures of the majority of players early in the summer will set them up well for the season ahead.
“It makes a big difference,” says Sims. “Sometimes it is out of the club’s hands and wanting players that are harder to get.
“It does help players arriving a few weeks before the season starts and everything gels. It is better for the manager so he can see a team that he wants to build.
“As players, you get to know the new transfers and know what they are good at and what they want to do.
“It helps you know who the squad is.”
Ross County won their Viaplay Cup group despite suffering a penalty shoot-out defeat to Kelty Hearts after the team were tied 3-3 after normal time.
Sims says while they were pleased to win the group, did say the team did not meet their objective of four wins out of four.
“We won the group so we have to take the positive, but it is disappointing how it ended.
“We wanted to win every game in the group and in the first 30 minutes we were super comfortable.
“We really let it slip, we wanted a clean record but unfortunately we couldn’t do that.
“However, there are Premiership teams who didn’t get through and we didn’t want that to be the case for us.”
