Don Cowie says last year’s experience shows Ross County’s Premiership play-off tie against Raith Rovers cannot be settled in Thursday’s first leg.
After finishing 11th in the table, behind St Johnstone on goal difference, the Staggies must come through the play-offs for the second successive season in order to maintain their top-flight status.
Last time around, County found themselves in a perilous position midway through the first leg of their tie against Partick Thistle.
They trailed the Jags 2-0, with County reduced to 10 men following teenage defender Dylan Smith’s dismissal.
The Staggies went on to concede a third goal in the second leg, before pulling off a sublime late comeback to force extra-time and penalties, where they ultimately triumphed.
Interim boss Cowie, who was assistant to Malky Mackay at the time, says the Staggies must manage the situation correctly regardless of what Thursday’s Stark’s Park encounter throws up.
Asked about his biggest learning from last year’s experience, Cowie said: “The main one for me was in the away game. We were 2-0 down and down to 10 men.
“At that stage, discussing with Malky at the time, we decided 2-0 was a good result.
“We were under the cosh. It was really difficult.
“They had real momentum in that match, and sometimes you’ve just got to realise the situation you are in.
“Maybe you could be naive and think you need to get a goal to try and make it 2-1, to give us something for the home leg.
“We just decided 2-0 was a good result – and that proved to be the case. It meant the game didn’t run away from us too much.
“We were pretty fortunate they missed a lot of chances. But it just proves if you stay in the game, and stay in the tie, you’ve always got that opportunity.”
Staggies showed momentum can quickly change
Just seconds after Yan Dhanda pulled a goal back from the penalty spot in Dingwall, Simon Murray ramped up the revival by netting a second goal.
George Harmon equalised in stoppage time, with Josh Sims going on to net the decisive spot-kick in the shootout victory.
Cowie is mindful of how quickly momentum can change in the tie, adding: “What we said all along during that tie was ‘let’s score a goal.’
“Partick had gone through the play-offs pretty seamlessly. They had never been in that situation where it had gone against them.
“We wanted to get a goal to see how they would react to that. It just shows you, by getting that goal, how quickly the momentum can change.
“We got one, and that very quickly became two, and all of a sudden the belief came.
“That’s when the miracle happened in terms of turning it around.
“It’s having that mindset of keep going, and keep believing, right until the end.”
County must quickly refocus for play-offs
County twice fell short of securing automatic survival last week, after conceding a late equaliser against St Johnstone on Wednesday, before failing to find a winner against 10-man Aberdeen on Sunday.
Cowie is confident his players can quickly refocus their attention to coming through the play-off tie against Championship runners-up Raith.
He added: “The goal was to stay out of the play-offs. We can’t deny that.
“We have worked really hard to give ourselves that chance to avoid it. We have just come up short by the smallest of margins.
“That’s why I’m not going to get too down about the situation.
“I have seen so much from the group, so many positive performances, which makes me feel we can go into these two games and get the result we need.
“Is it going to be easy? Of course it’s not. Raith are a very good team, who are feeling confident about themselves.
“We have to believe – and I believe in the group we can do what we need to do.”
Conversation