Ross County manager Jim McIntyre has urged his squad to follow Tony Dingwall’s example by making the most of their opportunity to play.
An injury to Michael Gardyne has given Dingwall the chance to stake a claim for a regular place in the starting 11 and the midfielder has grasped it, scoring in the last two games against Celtic and Motherwell.
McIntyre has been delighted with Dingwall’s desire to force his way into the team and believes other players at the club should be aiming to emulate his success.
He said: “If you look at Tony Dingwall – Gardyne has been a mainstay – but he’s come into the team through an injury and taken his chance.
“That’s what I’m looking for from the players that have had to be patient. When we were playing well the team was picking itself but if there’s an opportunity they have to show why you’re a part of the squad.”
County ended a three-game losing run with a 3-0 win at home to Motherwell last weekend. The Staggies travel to Pittodrie today to face an Aberdeen side which has struggled for consistency in the last two months.
McIntyre expects the Dons to bounce back but is intent on ensuring it does not happen today.
He said: “It’s going to be a difficult game. They’re going through a spell that we probably went through ourselves, where the consistency levels have dropped a bit but they’ve still got the same good squad of players.
“We know how difficult a place Pittodrie is. We’ve got to take the confidence from last week into the match, make sure we’re well organised and have belief going forward.
“Any time you go into a game you want to win and catch the team in front of you. That’s the aim tomorrow – to get the three points but we’ve got to play well.”
McIntyre, who is without the injured Gardyne and Brian Graham, wants to see his players build on their win against the Steelmen last week after rediscovering the knack of scoring goals.
He said: “Saturday was vital. We’d been stuck on 18 points for a number of weeks and it was frustrating. There were games where we were getting into good areas but just weren’t ruthless enough. It was coming back to bite us.
“It was great to keep a clean sheet also. Gary (Woods) made a great save at 2-0 and that was important because if he doesn’t make it, it’s a nervy ending. It was a pleasing result last week and was just what we needed.”