Manager Derek Adams is confident Ross County will be scoring more goals sooner rather than later – and not just his strikers.
The 10th-placed Scottish Premiership side, who host sixth-placed Hibs this Saturday, are five games into Adams’ third spell in charge at Dingwall.
Including the matches with predecessor Malky Mackay in the hot-seat, County have failed to score in nine of their 17 league fixtures, with only rock-bottom Livingston worse off with 10 blanks.
Adams, who left English League Two team Morecambe to return to the Highlands last month, guided his side to seven points from nine with a 0-0 draw against Kilmarnock followed by a 1-0 win over St Mirren and an impressive 3-0 victory over Motherwell.
A 2-0 defeat at St Mirren was followed by Saturday’s last-gasp 1-0 home loss to Dundee.
Simon Murray is their most potent finisher this season with 11 goals from 23 matches, followed by Jordan White on five goals.
Midfielders can find the net too
Adams backs his team to be putting more chances away in a bid to climb the table.
He said: “We have Simon Murray, Jordan White, Eamonn Brophy and Alex Samuel – an abundance of good strikers who can score goals.
“We’ve got number 10s in Josh Sims and Yan Dhanda, and you only have to look at midfield players that can chip in as well like Kyle Turner, who did it last year at Partick Thistle, but you have to be on it.
“We all talk about it, but you have to go over that white line and do it.
“That’s the players’ responsibility. They have to go over the white line and put on good performances.”
Adams eyes chance to defeat Hibs
Weekend visitors Hibs have won four of their last six fixtures, although their 1-0 defeat at St Johnstone slowed their progress last weekend.
When County visited Easter Road on Halloween, they hit back from 2-0 down to secure a 2-2 draw in a pulsating enc0unter.
Adams said of Nick Montgomery’s side: “Hibs are a very good team.
“They play in an expansive way, with a lot of good technical players, but they are a capital club.
“They are ones who are pushing to get into a European place, but we saw last week with the St Johnstone game that there is the possibility of taking points off them.”
Adams plans for winter shut-down
Adams has managed Plymouth, Morecambe, Bradford City and Morecambe again during his nine years in England.
After County face Aberdeen in Dingwall on January 2, the Premiership takes a break until January 27 when the Staggies visit defending champions Celtic.
While the chance to head to Europe is not on the agenda this time, the Staggies boss has plans to get his players ready for their return to action.
He added: “I’ve never had a winter break, but I’ve always taken players away for a warm weather training camp.
“At Ross County we used to fly out on a Sunday, come back on a Wednesday and play on the Saturday. I did the same with Plymouth Argyle.
“We always fitted in something of a winter break at the end of January or early February, but I haven’t had the opportunity to have a two and-a-half week shutdown.
“I’m not saying that’s a great idea, but we’re not getting to go away to sunnier climates this year.
“It will give me the opportunity to work with the players for more time than we’ve had recently with two games a week.”
Working week gets reshaped by boss
Adams explained their working week has been shuffled about as the players get used to the managerial switch.
He said: “I’ve changed the working week, because it used to be that the players were off on Sunday and Monday.
“I’ve gone back to having them in on Monday and Tuesday, and being off on a Wednesday.
“That will take some time for certain players to adjust to, so I’ve got to be careful how many things I change and how quickly I do it.”