Ross County forward Liam Boyce is confident the Staggies will snap the losing streak after Saturday’s 3-2 defeat against St Johnstone consigned them to a fifth defeat in their last six league games.
County had clawed back level after falling 2-0 down at half-time through Saints midfielder David Wotherspoon’s double, with Boyce’s goal and an own goal from Murray Davidson restoring parity.
But St Johnstone captain Dave Mackay powered home a stunning free kick two minutes from time to snatch the three points for the Perth Saints.
Boyce does not believe the Dingwall men are far away from a return to winning ways, however, and said: “Only the best teams in the world can go a whole season without a sticky patch. It was always going to come, but it’s how long it lasts that will determine our season.
“We need to get out of it as soon as possible. I thought Saturday was going to be the day, but we got hit by a sucker punch right at the end of the game which was frustrating for everyone.
“We need to be hard to beat and the goals we’re conceding at the minute are not really giving us that chance. We were 2-0 down in the first half which gave us a mountain to climb, even though we’ve shown the spirit to get back into the match.
“We’re giving teams a start but at least we’re showing we have the bottle to come back into games and we’re not giving up.
“Some teams, when they go 2-0 down, would just throw in the towel and concede four or five.
“We have a spirit and go until the end, we never know when we are beaten, it was just unfortunate we couldn’t get that final goal.”
Boyce’s goal took his goal tally to 13 for the season and the Northern Irishman hopes two in his last three games can help catch the eye of national team manager Michael O’Neill ahead of next summer’s European championship finals in France.
The 24-year-old added: “As long as we’re winning and getting points on the board I’m happy. I went a couple of weeks without scoring and people started to ask questions.
“I suppose it’s a good thing. If I go on a run, people will be expecting me to keep scoring. It’s good to be getting back in among the goals and hopefully they keep coming. This is where the international manager is going to see me play, because I don’t think we have a friendly until March.
“I have to show him what I can do – it’s the only opportunity I have and I’ll have to keep going, keep playing well and scoring.
“The manager and his assistant Jimmy Nicholl are both based in Scotland, so there’s plenty of opportunities to watch me.”