Jason Naismith has added motivation to right the wrongs of relegation in his second spell with Ross County.
Defender Naismith was part of a Staggies side which suffered the drop during his previous spell at Victoria Park in 2018, before he moved on to English League One side Peterborough United.
With the Staggies having since reclaimed their top-flight status, Naismith returned to Dingwall last month in a bid to help County claw out of another survival battle.
With the Highlanders a point above tonight’s Premiership opponents Motherwell, who are only ahead of bottom side Hamilton Accies on goal difference, Naismith says a determination to avoid a repeat of three years ago is fuelling his efforts to help County move up the table.
Naismith said: “I loved it here the last time and although things have changed away from the football these days, it has been great coming back.
“That’s four games in a row I have played now so it’s good. I came back to lend a hand because the club did me a favour in the past by signing me, so I feel I owe a lot back.
“It’s a great club and I just hope we can get out of the mire.
“Every game is massive now, it will be highlighted how close we are with Motherwell.
“But we just have to go into every game aiming to take full points.
“We have to have the mentality of trying to take maximum points from every game because it’s so tight at the bottom.
“We have a lot of games against the teams round us coming up so it’s a good chance to get a run going.
“It’s like a mini-split before the split for us, so it’s a really important spell and it will help define our season.”
County went down 5-0 against Rangers at Ibrox on Saturday, however Naismith is determined to pick up from where the Staggies left off in their last home outing when John Hughes’ men triumphed 4-1 against Aberdeen.
The 26-year-old added: “The manager sets us up positively because if you don’t attack teams you don’t win points.
“He’s as straight as a die, he is honest and everyone knows where they stand.
“If you can’t get motivated playing under the gaffer you should chuck it, to be honest.
“He’s positive every day and you can see his enthusiasm.
“He sets the team up well, we don’t sit in – we didn’t do that against Aberdeen and hopefully we can get a win.
“Motherwell are a quality team, they finished third last season with virtually the same squad, so we are under no illusions about how difficult it’s going to be.”
Despite the heavy defeat against Steven Gerrard’s men on Saturday, former St Mirren player Naismith is keen to heed crucial lessons from the experience of facing the runaway league leaders.
He added: “When you play against international players you always learn and my direct opponent was Borna Barisic.
“I am 26 but you are still learning all the time, so when you come away from playing against a Croatian international you think about how he used the ball, how quick he got back into his position and things like that.
“He just has good habits for when they play against better teams who put them under more pressure.
“It was a good experience to see how fit he was, how professional and how good his habits are.
“You do look at players and think that is the level you have to aim for.
“You have to take things on board when you play the better teams and try to improve off the back of it.”