Ross County manager Jim McIntyre believes his players are ready to inject new life into the Premiership campaign when they host Partick Thistle on Saturday.
The Staggies won 2-1 on the opening day at Dundee but three successive league defeats have halted progress.
County will aim to return to winning ways against the Jags, who are bottom of the table and yet to register a point, and McIntyre said: “It has been a long couple of weeks.
“It always is during the international break, especially when we have not had a positive result going into it.
“I can already see a difference in the training this week because there is a goal to play for in terms of Saturday’s game.
“The players are refreshed and we’re looking forward to Thistle.”
McIntyre was critical of his side’s performance in its 3-1 loss against Rangers at Dingwall last month and added: “The only performance where we let ourselves down was last time out against Rangers.
“Previous to that, it has been very fine margins that has won and lost us games.
“It is up to us to show a response, especially being at home.
“We want to put on a far better performance than we did last time out and the players certainly know they will have to be a lot better than we were against Rangers if we are to get anything from this match.”