Ross County midfielder Christopher Routis says Saturday’s game against Partick Thistle will determine which way the Staggies’ campaign goes.
County are six points behind the sixth-placed Jags, who Jim McIntyre’s men take on in the first of four games remaining before the split.
Frenchman Routis is targeting a victory which he reckons would rekindle County’s push for a top-half finish but the former Bradford City player is mindful that a failure to take all three points would leave them scrapping to retain their top-flight status.
County are four points above bottom-placed Hamilton Accies and Routis said: “It’s the final sprint now. We know what we want to do – the target from the start of the season was to finish in the top six.
“Now is the last chance to do it, so we want to take the three points on Saturday. We know if we don’t get that, we’ll probably need to fight to stay in the league.
“We can do it with the squad we have, especially with a couple of players who are back from injury. Everyone is starting to come back and we’ll need that as we play three games in a week.
“After that we will know and I hope it will be good for us.”
Although time is running out for his side, Routis says County cannot allow themselves to be affected by the pressure of delivering a top-half finish.
The 27-year-old said: “The manager talked before the break about how we have four cup finals to play.
“We just want to give everything. We know we need to win all the games.
“That doesn’t put any more pressure on for me, I play all the games all the time to win. I don’t like to draw.
“We need to play the football like we know we can play. We don’t need to play with the pressure because I think all the year, every time we play with a bit of pressure we didn’t play well. We put that pressure on ourselves.
“We can make the break and go into the top six. But, of course, we have something to lose because we have to look behind us.”
Routis hopes a victory at Firhill can see County gather momentum ahead of a crucial week.
He added: “The first game will be really important because if we get three points away to Partick we then play at home against Dundee on Tuesday and we are at Hamilton next weekend.
“We need to be focused on the first one. We won’t think about the other games. We are a few points away from that sixth place but I think we can do that.”
