Jack Baldwin insists Ross County “must be doing something right” to have secured their Premiership status for a 10th year out of 11.
Sunday’s stunning play-off final comeback triumph against Championship Partick Thistle, where they came from 3-0 down on aggregate with 20 minutes to go to equalise, before going on to win via a penalty shoot-out, will live long in the memory.
Since coming up in 2012, County have only dropped out of the top league once – in 2017-18, with Stuart Kettlewell and Steven Ferguson leading them straight back up in time for the 18-19 campaign.
Experienced defender Baldwin thinks Malky Mackay’s current Staggies cohort must use their experience of narrowly surviving relegation as a catalyst for improvement next term.
He said: “We need to build on this. We had a good season last year and we knew other teams would strengthen and it would not be quite the same league.
“A lack of consistency has let us down a lot this year. We’d win a game then not pick up a result the next week.
“This is a good platform for us to build upon. We have got a shorter break now over the summer and we will be straight back in working, ready to make sure we don’t have to go through that again.
“At the start of this season, we looked at our position with the manager and the chairman.
“Last season, finishing in the top six was fantastic for the club. We don’t just want to be in the Premiership to make up the numbers.
“The topic, the over-riding feeling, is County are doing well to be staying in the Premiership for a 10th season.
“We must be doing something right at this club to be holding our own and competing, so we will regroup this summer and come back and make sure we’re not in this position again.”
Baldwin scored penalty in training
Englishman Baldwin, 29, was delighted and relieved to have come through the most epic of matches, especially as his shoot-out penalty when locked at 3-3 was saved by David Mitchell.
He said: “Believe it or not, I was confident stepping up there to take it.
“We practised penalties on Saturday, (as) Don (Cowie, assistant manager) said it would be a possibility that the tie could go to penalties.
“He said: ‘pick a spot, be confident, don’t change your mind’, and that is the way I went in training on Saturday, and I scored.
“Listen, we can laugh and joke about it now, because we’re still in the Premiership, but had we not won, it would have been devastating.
“Hopefully, I won’t be put in that position too many more times.”
‘We were never down and out’
Not many people would have given County hope of coming back in the play-off final, especially from a three-goal deficit so late on.
However, the former Bristol Rovers stopper insists the team never stopped believing.
He added: “I think we put a lot into the game. We’d scored five goals in our last two home games, so we were confident that, if we could get a goal, we could score more than one.
“Conceding the first goal was a bit of a blow, but we never really felt like we were down and out.
“We have got such an honest, hard-working, bunch of lads, we keep fighting until the end, so we feel relieved and delighted that we’re still a Premiership team.”
Key red card decision went for Ross County
It seemed as if County captain Keith Watson would be sent off for a midfield challenge on Sunday, but – after a VAR check – it was downgraded to a yellow.
Baldwin felt, with Dylan Smith having seen red in the first leg, they were ready for anything against Partick.
He said: “That would have been huge if Keith had been sent off, but I think, even if that did transpire, we still would have given absolutely everything.
“At Firhill on Thursday, we showed when we went down to 10 men, we could still dominate the ball and create chances. We would still have chucked everything at it.
“We have been on the wrong side of some crazy decisions this year, but thankfully, on Sunday, that one went for us.”
Conversation