Whether good or bad, Jordan Tillson will always call upon his father as a constructive sounding board to mull over his Ross County performances.
Tillson’s father Andy enjoyed a successful career as a defender in the English lower leagues, playing more than 100 games for both Grimsby Town and Bristol Rovers.
Towards the end of his playing days in 2001, he helped helping Walsall gain promotion to the second-tier through the play-offs.
Tillson snr previously spent nine years on the coaching staff at Exeter City, where Jordan had spent his entire career until joining the Staggies in January.
The 27-year-old takes inspiration from his father who he watched as a young child, and sounds out his advice after every game.
Tillson jnr says last weekend’s 5-0 defeat to Celtic, in which he conceded an early penalty for pulling down Odsonne Edouard, was no exception.
He said: “We speak a lot and talk about my performances. He watches a lot of games on the television and he’s great to have there when I need advice or just to ask questions.
“He’s brilliant for information and that’s something not a lot of people get. I feel lucky.
“The club have sorted him out with a Staggies’ TV subscription. He watched the Celtic game and we always have a conversation afterwards. It’s something to learn from, always.
“For the penalty, he just said I can’t touch these sort of players, especially the better ones in the box. They’re so clever and knowledgeable of the game. Any little chance they get, they will take the opportunity of it.
“I watched him play quite a lot as a younger child, but he was coming to the end of his career by the time I was 10. I remember bits, but I can’t remember it all.
“He had a fantastic career and if I could match that, I’d be happy. He was a centre half who was taller, so he could head it better. He was a good player.”
County are without a win in their last five games ahead of today’s trip to St Johnstone, however Tillson is remaining upbeat ahead of the trip to Perth.
He added: “We’re in a good place and, if we keep playing the way we are, we will pick up points. It is just the way it has rolled for us at the moment, really.
“We’re still confident. We have some great characters and everyone is in it together. I think that shows in the performances.”
Tillson feels the Staggies can take encouragement from their display despite the heavy defeat to Celtic, as they look to secure a timely result against Saints ahead of games against Aberdeen, Rangers and Hibernian.
He added: “There’s positives from the game and things we can work on. If we can do it against a team like Celtic, we can take encouragement going forwards. We never showed any lack of quality on Saturday.
“It is definitely something we’ll be looking to continue. It is really tight, but it is very early. We’ve just got to remain focused as one win really picks you up three or four spaces at the moment.
“We’ve got a tough run of fixtures coming up and we’re going to have to try and pick up points off these teams.”