Ross County’s Noah Chilvers says win over Dundee in Dingwall will serve as important confidence boost ahead of home match against St Johnstone
Noah Chilvers says Ross County’s season starts in earnest now after recording their first Premiership win of the season.
The summer signing from Colchester United got an early assist on his first Staggies start to help County to a 2-0 win over Dundee last week.
With a crucial match against St Johnstone coming up in Dingwall this weekend, that confidence boost could not have come at a better time.
Now, Chilvers is looking to kick on both as a team and on a personal level after breaking into County’s starting 11.
“It was a good feeling to get the first win of the season and get off the mark,” he said.
“We can get the season properly started now. There have been some positive performances so far, where we maybe haven’t got what we feel like we deserve – you can look at games like Aberdeen where we lost it so late on.
“There has been a lot of confidence in the group because we’ve been playing well, so it was coming but it’s still easier said than done getting that first win so it’s good to get that out of the way.
“I’ve been here for five or six weeks now, and I came in off the back of no pre-season and therefore no base fitness to go off.
“The gaffer has been really good with easing me in. I’ve had more of a watching brief so far, but it has helped me get a feel for the league, so I feel ready to go.
“It’s a bit more relentless in terms of the tempo, the ball is in play a lot more, but I felt good against Dundee, so I’m looking forward to playing more and making contributions.”
While Chilvers was not at County last season, he knows all about the club’s battle with Saturday’s opponents St Johnstone to avoid a relegation play-off.
With the talk in Dingwall after coming through that play-off against Raith Rovers being about looking to compete rather than just survive in Scotland’s top flight, matches like these will be crucial in determining whether a more comfortable run-in will be in store for the Staggies this season.
“I think every game is important, because we’ve got no interest in being down where we were last year,” Chilvers added.
“Every game, especially at home, we want to stamp our authority and make it a hard place to come.
“That’s something you try and do everywhere – your home games are ones you really need to make the most of.
“You have your fans there, you don’t have to travel, so you’ve got to make it a really hard place to come.
“The team had a really good record last season under the manager, and we’ll be trying to carry that on for sure.
“Dundee didn’t have a chance other than their offside goal, and we’ll be looking to do the same thing again this week.”
