Ross County manager John Hughes says the only way the Staggies can avoid bemoaning refereeing decisions is by securing their place in the Premiership.
County are three points above the relegation zone with six matches remaining, with today’s trip to St Johnstone their final pre-split outing.
The Dingwall side have been irked by recent penalty decisions which have been awarded to their opponents in losses against St Mirren and Hibernian.
With County’s fate still firmly in their own hands, Hughes has urged his side to ensure the dubious calls are not decisive come the end of the campaign.
Hughes said: “We have let ourselves down once or twice, but most of the teams have known they have been in a game and it has been very close.
“We are doing everything we can in terms of staff. We are working constantly, looking at all the video footage and seeing what we can do.
“We take players in and tell them what we want from them, and give them all the information we can. It goes back to what I’ve always believed in. Don’t turn up on a Saturday and expect to just to turn the switch on.
“You have to train the way you play, and that’s the standard we are trying to implement at the club.
“I trust them because I know they will give me everything they have got. They might make a mistake that might cost us, but it won’t be for the want of trying. That’s why I enjoy working with these guys, because they are really buying into what we are trying to do.
“Hopefully for all that hard work they are putting in, we get the results to keep the club in the Premiership.
“If we’ve still got our Premiership status, we can forget all these decisions that have cost us points.”
Today’s opponents also have plenty to play for, with Saints needing to win to have any chance of finishing in the top-six.
Callum Davidson has already enjoyed a successful debut campaign in charge, with the Perth side lifting the League Cup last month.
With the team which defeated Livingston at Hampden Park made up of several of Saints’ own youth products, Hughes is full of admiration for the work being done at McDiarmid Park.
Hughes added: “My respect for St Johnstone goes way back to when I was a player coming through playing against them, then going into coaching and management and knowing what you have to do.
“You have your elite academies, but St Johnstone have just done it their own way. All that stuff doesn’t bother them, they are just right down the middle.
“And if you see the players they have in their first team, look at their two centre-halves, Wotherspoon, they all come through their academy system.
“They stick to their guns and live and die by that, that’s why I respect them. To do what they are doing and win the cup, that’s absolutely different class.
“It was a really good decision to bring in Callum as manager, a guy who knows what the club is all about. Sometimes you have to tip your hat to that and say well done.
“It’s always a tough place to go, but I love everything about it.”
Hughes says he also holds the Perth outfit in high regard off the park, adding: “Even when I was manager up at Inverness, the rapport our directors had with their directors was great. They’re real, down-to-earth football guys.
“That’s something I like and something I have here at Ross County. I have a chairman who is really down to earth, who just wants the best for his club, the best for the community. That’s what I like.
“Everybody is humble, nobody gets above themselves, everyone keeps their feet on the ground.
“Anything we get, we’ll earn – that’s right up my street.”
