Ross County all but secured Premiership survival by defeating Motherwell 1-0 on Saturday but captain Andrew Davies reckons this has been a disappointing campaign for the Staggies.
The Dingwall men finished in the top six and won the League Cup last season but have been left to scrap in the wrong half of the table for the final five matches of this season.
County followed up the crushing 4-0 win against bottom-of-the-league Caley Thistle with a vital victory against Motherwell at Fir Park at the weekend, sealed by Christopher Routis’ second-half goal.
The win means County cannot finish bottom and only an unlikely scenario could result in them finishing in the play-off position. But Davies knows there is plenty of room for improvement and said: “Last season was fantastic for the club. We can’t have every season like that but we must try to end this season by putting things right, the things that we haven’t done during the season.
“The fact we are still grinding shows that we have another side to our game and that is fantastic.
“We finished sixth last year and our aim this year was to finish higher than that, so it is definitely a failure in my opinion and I am sure the manager feels the same because we always strive to get better.”
Davies impressed with a commanding display for the Staggies at Fir Park and was pleased to play his part in a precious victory.
He added: “It is a huge relief for us. The win against Inverness was huge as well. Winning our first two games after the split is fantastic, so all credit to the players.
“We have been 1-0 up in games this season and pushed for a second goal and been caught a couple of times.
“We have learned and the players were fantastic. We dug in and got the result we needed.
“We have been disappointing in some games this season and that is the reason we are in the bottom six. But we are a good team when we do the right things because we have got some good players.
“We passed the ball quite well against Motherwell and when we had to dig in we did. It was a very pleasing day.”