Ross County co-manager Steven Ferguson hopes a Monday debrief of the Staggies’ 6-0 loss to Celtic holds the key to getting the painful defeat out of their system.
County make the trip to Hibernian in the Premiership on Saturday, in their first outing since suffering their heaviest Premiership defeat at the hands of the Hoops at Parkhead last weekend.
Although Ferguson is keen for County to move on from the heavy loss he and fellow co-manager Stuart Kettlewell felt numerous issues from Saturday’s game could not be glossed over, which prompted a tough video analysis session with the players on Monday.
Ferguson hopes the squad can benefit from the exercise, and he said: “Every day is a school day – and it was.
“We have another really big game coming on Saturday and we can’t fall in the trap of letting it swarm all over us and take over our thinking for this week.
“But what we couldn’t do was brush it under the carpet.
“We didn’t say much after the game on Saturday. I think everyone was a little bit shell-shocked at how we performed. We were very brief.
“We said we would look at it when we were a little bit more level-headed and ready to take teachable moments out of it.
“We took Monday to do that, which is a recovery day for the players anyway.
“With the players who were part of it, we went through it together collectively. There was no individual finger-pointing, but a clear message it wasn’t acceptable.”
Ferguson feels the Staggies’ squad is now ready to change focus to Saturday’s Easter Road encounter, where County face a struggling Hibs side which sits second bottom of the table.
He added: “We will not bury our heads in the sand and pretend it didn’t happen, because we can’t. It’s there.
“But for a football club and a squad of players, how long do we dwell on it? I think we put it to bed on Monday. We move on now.
“But we’re very mindful of Saturday. None of us wanted to be part of that and I wouldn’t want to be part of it again.
“We can’t change what happened last Saturday, but what we can do is influence what happens this Saturday. That’s what our focus is.
“There is no under-estimating that we’re going to another city club and big stadium where there will be in excess of 10,000 supporters.
“That’s a great platform for any player to go and play.