Connor Randall sees Ross County’s next five fixtures as an opportunity to signal their intent to move away from the Premiership relegation zone.
The Staggies face Motherwell in their next match at Fir Park on February 15, with no game this weekend due to being eliminated from the Scottish Cup.
County, who were defeated 4-0 by Rangers at Ibrox in their last outing on Sunday, are now in the relegation play-off spot, with a point separating them from 10th-placed Dundee.
Following the trip to Lanarkshire, the Staggies have games against Dundee, St Johnstone, Kilmarnock and Hearts – who all occupy bottom-half positions at present – before the next international break.
Don Cowie’s men are five points clear of bottom side St Johnstone – although that gap has halved in the space of two weeks after the Perth outfit recorded back-to-back wins.
In spite of that, skipper Randall insists the Staggies’ focus remains on clawing back ground on the teams above them.
Randall said: “People see 10 points and it can sound like a lot, but we have all been in football long enough. It can change quickly.
“We have been there ourselves. All it takes in this league is a couple of results, and it looks different.
“We have still got a gap, and we are still looking at the teams above us, to chase them.
“That’s our full focus. We’ve got five games before the international break, which are massive. They are games we think we can win, so it’s on us to go and perform and get ourselves pushing up the table.
“There are teams that are sitting in a nice position in the league, but one result can really change that.
“We showed it a few weeks ago when we had three wins and one draw, which put us in a much better position than we were.
“The league is that tight, there are a lot of teams picking up points. It’s in our own hands.”
Randall focused on crucial league run after cup break
While Randall is disappointed to have no cup focus this weekend, the midfielder sees the two-week break before the next game as an opportunity to reset ahead of the crucial upcoming run.
He added: “We would 100% rather be in the cup, and have a game this weekend.
“We were very disappointed with how we went out of the cup.
“But it’s full focus on the next game coming up. They are big games now, there are 13 games left before the end of the season.
“They are all massive games, that we feel we can win to put ourselves in the position we want to be for the season.
“We have had all our games against Rangers and Celtic, which are tougher.
“Every game is tough but on our day, if we turn up and perform like we can, they are games we believe we can win.
“The gap was bigger – we would obviously want a bigger gap. But we are looking at chasing down the teams above us.”
Staggies squad in strong place following January window
Staggies boss Cowie ended the January transfer window with four fresh additions, while young trio George Robesten, Andrew Macleod and Dylan Smith were recalled from loan spells and have already featured in the first team.
Randall is pleased with the strength in depth at Cowie’s disposal, adding: “There are options. People came in during January, and a few young boys have come back and performed well.
“Even in the summer, lads came in and hit the ground running for us, and started to show a good bit of form.
“We have got a big squad in numbers, and there’s quality there. There were lads who came on against Rangers and performed well in the second half.
“It’s good competition for everyone, and it keeps everyone on their toes. We’ve just got to keep pushing ourselves.
“It can be difficult at times for lads that aren’t playing, but with where we are now it’s about us all sticking together as a squad.
“We will achieve anything we do as a whole.
“We have full belief in the quality we have got. We’ve got to look up and chase the teams above us.”
Conversation