Yan Dhanda insists going toe-to-toe with Hearts will give Ross County plenty of encouragement as they seek their next three Premiership points.
A strong performance against last season’s emphatic third-placed finishers was lapped up by Staggies fans on Sunday, but the players had nothing to show for it.
Jordy Hiwula’s early goal was ruled as offside before Jordan White fired County in front early on.
However, the Jambos responded with goals from Lawrence Shankland and Andy Halliday to put the visitors sixth with a 2-1 victory and nudge County back to the foot of the division, below Dundee United on goal difference.
County focus on positives after defeat
Midfielder Dhanda, who replaced the injured Ross Callachan for his seventh start of the season, feels it is crucial the group keep their heads high going into Saturday’s home date against sixth-placed St Mirren.
He said: “The biggest thing is we’ve dominated against one of the best teams in the league in that second half.
“We can definitely take a huge amount of encouragement from that as we try to improve our position in the league table.
“There’s no time to dwell on it – we have to look at the positives.
“We dominated against a very good team in this league and a team that is playing in Europe this season.
“We’ll look to take that into the weekend’s home game against St Mirren.”
‘Sloppy goals’ must be cut out
Shankland scored in the box at the second attempt for Hearts as he took his tally to 11 goals for the term, while Halliday guided a header from a corner beyond goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw.
Dhanda, 23, who teed up White for his strike at the weekend, is urging his team-mates to learn lessons from the manner of the goals they leaked.
He said: “I felt we dominated the majority of the game on Sunday.
“But after we went 1-0 up, we then conceded two sloppy goals quite quickly.
“We have to cut them out. We work so hard for our goals, so we need to stop letting such cheap and easy goals go in against us.
“In the second half against Hearts, we showed just how good we can be.
“It definitely should have been three points against a very good team.”
County can cause rivals problems
The ex-Liverpool youth and Swansea City player also believes the positive play from County is a style which can lead to openings against their opponents, starting against the Saints on Saturday.
Dhanda added: “We showed on Sunday that when we actually try and play football, we are very capable of dominating matches.
“We had our chances, and it just gives us belief in ourselves.
“When we get the ball on the floor and try to play we can cause problems for any team.
“St Mirren is going to be another tough game, but one we’re really looking forward to.
“They are a team doing really well and currently in the top six, but we played against last season’s third-placed side on Sunday and should have won.
“We have to be full of confidence.”
Dhanda targets fresh run in side
With Callachan ruled out with a hamstring injury until after the World Cup – just before Christmas – Dhanda aims to grasp the opportunity to nail some vital game time in the Premiership.
He said: “I know when I’m on the pitch I’m going to create for the team.
“I showed I could do that against Hearts.
“Hopefully, I’ve done well enough to keep playing football now.”
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