Ross County midfielder Michael Gardyne says he will not concern himself with matters elsewhere when the Staggies host Partick Thistle in today’s crucial Premiership encounter.
County hopes of a top-six finish are hanging in the balance, with a victory against the Jags their minimum requirement.
County also need Dundee to fail to beat Hamilton Accies at New Douglas Park this afternoon but Gardyne is determined to switch off from the other game and put all his focus on helping the Dingwall men do their own business.
He said: “We’ve got ourselves into a situation where it’s not in our hands, which isn’t ideal. But the only thing we can do is try to win our game and that’s what we’ll be trying to do.
“I’d rather just hope we can get the job done on our side and then we’ll find out at the end of the game. I’m sure the manager will be clued up to what’s going on elsewhere.
“We just need to try and concentrate on ourselves.
“I don’t think a draw would have been enough anyway because of goal difference, so we always knew we were going to need to win against Partick.
“They’ll be thinking the same – if they win and Dundee don’t, they will be top six. It’s got all the makings of a good game and it should be exciting.”
The Staggies have held their position in the top-half of the table for the majority of the campaign, with Gardyne frustrated back-to-back losses against Caley Thistle and Dundee have caused them to slide to eighth ahead of today’s game.
The 30-year-old is thankful his side has a second chance to regain its position, however, and he added: “It’s a bit frustrating just now as we’ve been up there the full season but we’ve dropped out with one game to go.
“I’m not sure what it is. We’ve had hot and cold spells throughout the full season. We had a good start then went off a wee bit. It’s been a bit like that the full season.
“We’ve only got ourselves to blame for that but the good thing about it is we’ve still got a chance going into the last game.
“We just have to make sure we do our bit here.
“It is a massive game. We just need to concentrate on that and we know what we need to do.”
