Ross County manager Jim McIntyre says the Staggies still have plenty to do to retain their top-flight status despite moving a point closer to survival with Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Celtic.
County struck late to secure a precious point against the champions courtesy of Liam Boyce’s penalty, which was awarded by referee Don Robertson despite Alex Schalk going to ground under no contact from Hoops defender Erik Sviatchenko.
The Dutchman is likely to face a citation from SFA compliance officer Tony McGlennan which could lead to a ban that rules him out of some of County’s crucial upcoming matches.
With just three points separating County from 11th-placed Dundee, who yesterday sacked manager Paul Hartley following seven straight defeats, McIntyre knows the job is far from done.
County have five games remaining, starting with a home Highland derby encounter against rivals Caley Thistle a week on Friday, and McIntyre said: “We’ve got loads of work still to do. We’ve got five cup finals left and we’ve got to pick up points. We’ll not know how significant that point will be until later on.
“People would have put that down as a banker for three points for Celtic but we managed to pick up a great point, so we were obviously delighted.”
McIntyre was pleased his attacking players showed their capabilities in the second half against Brendan Rodgers’ men, who had taken the lead through Kieran Tierney’s excellent strike.
The Staggies manager added: “I was just delighted with the way we played in the second half. It was far better, we showed far more courage. I was disappointed with that side of it in the first half and wanted the players to put more pressure on Celtic higher up the pitch and I felt we did that.
“We showed less fear and a bit more bravery on the ball and we knew if we could get a couple of decent crosses into the box we could cause problems.”