Defender Alex Iacovitti thinks the extended gap between fixtures is a frustration Ross County must use to their advantage in their fight against the drop.
The Staggies notched a vital Premiership point when drawing 2-2 with Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Saturday – a result which kept them above the home side in the relegation spot and moved them four points clear of rock-bottom Hamilton.
Due to Scottish Cup matches scheduled for this weekend, John Hughes’ team now need to wait until next midweek for their second post-split fixture, which will see them take on St Mirren in Dingwall.
Iacovitti headed home in the second half to level the scores in Ayrshire, after an opening period in which an otherwise impressive County shipped two early goals either side of a Michael Gardyne strike.
Despite the short break not being ideal, the centre-back thinks time on the training pitch will allow the Staggies to work the cheap goals out of their game, and said: “It gives us plenty of time to work on a lot of things. We’ll be working hard.
“We’ll leave that (how exactly they tighten up at the back) to the gaffer and the coaching team. They are excellent and we’ve got plenty of time to sort things for the next game and take it from there.
“It can be frustrating, because when you batter out the games you’re able to take your momentum into the next game, but like I said, we’ve got 10 days and loads of stuff to work on to take into the next game, so we’re not too fussed.”
Iacovitti knows County’s control of the game against Kilmarnock and the chances they spurned across the piece could have seen them record a vital victory, however, he thinks there was plenty in their performance the Highland side can take into the rest of the post-split, saying: “We played some good stuff in the first half, it was just the goals that were sloppy, but we did play some decent stuff.”
Iacovitti added: “We’ve got keep going now and keep striving for more.
“We had to give everything, it was a massive game.
“We conceded two sloppy goals in the first half and, if we wanted to win the game or get anything out of it, we had to keep a clean sheet in the second half.
“I thought he lads done really well – enough to win the game, but we’ll take it and move on.
“We just focus on the next game, we don’t want to get too carried away. You’ve got to stay humble and focus on the game, like we did on Saturday.”
The County players were incensed at Rugby Park when, with the score at 2-2, skipper Iain Vigurs was forced off after being caught in the face by Killie striker Kyle Lafferty’s arm.
Northern Irish striker Lafferty was booked by referee Willie Collum after the incident, which left Vigurs bleeding heavily with what appeared to be a broken nose, but Iacovitti thinks the forward was let off lightly.
He said: “I didn’t see too much of it, but he caught him quite sweet, didn’t he?
“He caught me last game as well, but it’s one of them that I think it’s a red.
“Vigurs wouldn’t go down (unless he was hurt) and you see the state of him afterwards.
“I think he’s got away with one there the big man, but it’s football and you move on, that’s it.”