Ross County manager Jim McIntyre has challenged his players to earn another top six Premiership place – but reckons improvement will be needed.
An excellent start to last season tailed off as County scraped into the top half, winning just five of their 17 league matches after the turn of the year.
McIntyre expects Rangers’ promotion to make the task harder, and wants consistency from his side.
McIntyre, pictured, said: “Top six has got to be the target. We know how tough that’s going to be with Rangers coming up, they’ll definitely occupy one of those spots which makes it harder.
“But our targets are the exact same as last season, we’ve got to try to make sure we’re the team that gets one of those spots.
“We just made it last season, so we know there’s improvement to be had in this squad, especially our consistency levels.
“We know we need to improve given what happened in the second half of last season.
“The squad has got the experience and are cup winners. That will stand them in good stead, but every season is different and we’ve got to make sure we start well and give our lot in every match.”
McIntyre has already signed five new players – defenders Erik Cikos, Kenny van der Weg and Jay McEveley, goalkeeper Aaron McCarey and midfielder Christopher Routis.
Although he is on the lookout for more, the 44-year-old will not be rushed into signings and added: “If we don’t get the one or two players we’re looking for, we won’t be bringing someone in for the sake of it.
“We also need to have the right balance and the right number of players.”
