Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

John Hughes says Ross County’s Premiership survival bid is in Staggies’ own hands

Ross County manager John Hughes.
Ross County manager John Hughes.

Ross County manager John Hughes insists the Staggies can look no further than themselves for inspiration in their bid to secure Premiership survival.

County sit bottom of the table with 10 games remaining, and host Celtic in their next match on Sunday.

The Dingwall side will be aiming to upset the odds against the Hoops, as they look to bounce back from a 2-0 loss to Dundee United in their last outing on February 6.

County have faced a prolonged wait to return to action after last weekend’s match against Hibernian was postponed due to a frozen pitch.

With the bulk of the Staggies’ run-in against fellow bottom six sides, Hughes says his side cannot afford to look elsewhere for favours in the relegation dogfight that awaits them.

Hughes said: “It’s in our hands. It would be great to start off winning games, and great to start off winning against Celtic.

“It’s one that people might not expect, but if we could turn that one in it would give us a wee lift.

“It’s all in our hands – it’s all to play for.

“We cannot shy away from it, it needs to inspire us. We need to be looking forward to that with no trepidation.

“We can’t worry too much about the outcome, just concentrate on the process. If we can implement that we will be all right.”

Hughes accepts County’s scrap for points will not always be pleasing on the eye, but says the Highlanders make themselves harder for opposition teams to break down.

He added: “The pretty football and all that stuff is for another day.

“It’s all about picking up results.

“We have to be harder to beat and start keeping clean sheets.

“We need to be better defenders from the front, something I identified a month ago, be more compact and not let teams play through the lines.

“We’re fully aware of it and working on the training pitch to try and help them.

“I’m hoping, come Sunday, we can implement it.

“If we can do it in coming matches, clean sheets will come and go a long way towards us taking more from matches.”

County have been dealt a cruel double injury setback, after defenders Tom Grivosti and Connor Randall were ruled out for the rest of the season.

Tom Grivosti goes off injured against Kilmarnock.

Grivosti has been sidelined since suffering a hamstring injury in a 3-1 loss to Kilmarnock on November 21, having previously scored in that game.

The 21-year-old has now undergone an operation, with the news coming as a further blow to the former Bolton Wanderers player, who has made just seven appearances this term after recovering from a freak foot injury which kept him out for 12 months.

Right back Randall has struggled with a back injury in recent weeks, returning to the side for games against Aberdeen and Rangers before suffering a relapse.

Connor Randall.

Hughes has confirmed the pair, who are both from Liverpool, will sit out the remaining 10 games of the campaign.

He added: “When you talk football to a footballer like Tom, he talks football back to you. He understands the game, the tactics.

“I’ve never had him available since I’ve been here, but he’s a lovely lad and a big miss.

“Connor got himself back in the team, but the back problem he had previously has raised its head again.”

Skipper Iain Vigurs will return to training this week after suffering an ankle injury in the recent 2-1 win over Hamilton Accies, although the midfielder is suspended for the Celtic game.