With just six games left before the split, Ross County’s season remains firmly in the balance.
The Staggies are on 27 points – five adrift of Partick Thistle in sixth, and the same number ahead of rivals Caley Thistle who occupy the bottom spot, meaning it could still very much go either way for Jim McIntyre’s men.
Top-six football remains the aim for County, but they are competing for that target with several other clubs, many of which they face in the coming weeks.
That means big games lie ahead, the first of which being Saturday’s visit of Kilmarnock to Victoria Park, and the compactness of the table means as little as one defeat from the upcoming encounters with rival competitors could all but kill off County’s hopes.
Fifth-placed St Johnstone are currently on 37 points, and therefore unlikely to be caught by two teams as would be required for them to lose their top-half spot. That means with one place realistically up for grabs, there is little margin for error.
County showed they mean business with an excellent performance and result in their 1-0 win against Hearts at Tynecastle last week, which came courtesy of Alex Schalk’s second-half strike. It was not before time, given it was their first league victory of 2017, but McIntyre’s men must now show it was no one-off by making sure it kick starts a run of form at the most crucial stage in the campaign.
Saturday’s match against Killie is followed by games against Caley Thistle, Partick Thistle, Dundee and Hamilton Accies, before County finish their pre-split campaign at home to champions-elect Celtic. The visit of the as yet domestically unbeaten Hoops provides County with the toughest possible ending, but they must ensure they are still in contention by that stage by making the most of their next five fixtures.
County have struggled for consistency this season and have only recorded back-to-back league victories once – fittingly enough against their next two opponents Killie and Inverness. Not only will this need to change in the coming weeks, but the Staggies will need their fair share of results elsewhere to go in their favour as well.
The bottom half of the table has suddenly been recompressed, just at a stage when Partick, Dundee and Killie were looking ready to put some distance between themselves and the clubs below. County and Motherwell have reignited their own hopes of putting up a late surge by winning in their most recent outing, so it is very much all to play for.
County must make sure it remains that way before it is too late.
