Ross County midfielder Martin Woods says defensive frailty is to blame for the downturn in form which has left the Staggies’ Premiership top-six hopes hanging in the balance.
County have dropped out of the top half after suffering heavy defeats in their last two matches, losing 3-0 against Highland rivals Caley Thistle prior to last weekend’s 5-2 defeat by Dundee.
Despite the Dingwall men occupying a top-six position for the majority of the campaign, they must now defeat Partick Thistle at Victoria Park tomorrow and hope Dundee do not beat Hamilton in order to avoid finishing in the bottom half.
Woods feels County have only themselves to blame for letting their fate slip out of their own hands and he has urged his side to sharpen up its defensive weaknesses against the Jags.
He said: “We set standards but defensively it was shocking against Dundee and that has been something in the last three or four weeks that has really let us down.
“It needs to be a lot better and I mean that collectively. Although we have a style of looking after our own man and taking care of him, we’ve got to be able to help each other out at times as well.
“It’s not good enough, so it needs to be addressed. We can’t just tag it off on defenders. It’s a collective thing. We’ve lost a lot of goals from set-pieces.
“It was a horrible last weekend for all of the boys but we need to pick ourselves up and go and do our job at the weekend.
“Hopefully, results go for us and we can better Dundee. We shouldn’t really be in this position but we’ve got to focus now for Saturday.”
Woods rued his side’s inconsistency over a period of several weeks, with only three wins from 11 Premiership matches since the turn of the year and the 30-year-old says the Satggies can have no excuses if they fall short tomorrow.
He added: “It is hard to take but we can’t just say it is a one-off game. It has been a build-up.
“We should have had the job done in the top six a while ago but these problems keep creeping in.
“We just have to win on Saturday, do our jobs properly and then hopefully we’ll get a favour.
“Our only focus has to be our own game. Although we won the trophy, our results haven’t been consistent enough. We’re a good enough side to be in the top six.”