Jordan White says last season’s dramatic escape gives Ross County all the incentive they need to avoid another relegation play-off.
The Staggies, who occupy 11th spot, are four points adrift of both St Johnstone and Aberdeen – although they have a seven-point cushion ahead of bottom side Livingston.
County have taken four points from their last two home games, but are back on the road today when they face Hibernian at Easter Road.
With 11 games remaining, County know they must continue to rack up points to prevent a repeat of last season’s second-bottom finish.
County were put through a play-off against Partick Thistle, in which the Staggies trailed by three goals with 19 minutes remaining before surging back to force extra-time and ultimately penalties.
Josh Sims netted the winning spot-kick to retain County’s top-flight status and although the outcome was the desired one, White is desperate to avoid going through a similarly nerve-shredding scenario.
White said: “We should be doing better than we have been because we don’t want to be in the same position as last season – or even worse.
“We want to keep things in our own hands, stick together and stay in this league.
“The memory of the play-offs last year should drive us on.
“The feeling of getting through it at the time was great, but it’s not something you want to put yourself through.
“We were happy afterwards – but the biggest feeling was relief.
“The manager has touched on it – there are good teams in the Championship so it won’t be easy.
“It’s a lose-lose for the Premiership team because everyone expects you to win and you have everything to lose.
“It’s not something we want to be in. We want to get out of it and move up the table.
“We’ve had a couple of good results but we’re not getting ahead of ourselves because there’s a lot of hard work to come.”
Cowie has put faith in Staggies’ forwards
Experienced attacker White has been part of a three-pronged attack which Cowie has assembled in the last two matches, along with Eamonn Brophy and Simon Murray.
White took his tally for the season to six by netting his first goal since November against St Mirren, while Brophy netted a double in last weekend’s 3-2 win over Livingston.
White is pleased Cowie has been rewarded for his bravery in playing all three attackers from the start, and hopes they can continue to get among the goals.
He added: “It’s good playing up front with two other strikers, especially as all three of us believe in ourselves and our ability to get goals.
“The manager has shown faith in us, which isn’t easy because a lot of people will think it’s risky playing three out-and-out strikers.
“But it has worked well so far, we all know our role in the team and it’s not just going forward, we have to put the work in off the ball as well.
“Between the three of us we think we can get the goals we need and it’s not just us, we have other players who are capable of scoring goals.”
Staggies hoping to have more options available
County have been without a number of key players through injury in recent weeks, however Cowie is hopeful he will soon have more options available to him.
Skipper Jack Baldwin was back on the bench for Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with St Mirren, while the Staggies interim boss revealed Connor Randall and Yan Dhanda are also showing promising signs.
Cowie said: “Jack has only just joined the group in full training again – that was a positive having him back in the squad.
“Connor Randall is stepping up with the progress he is making, as is Yan Dhanda.”
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