Ross County manager Owen Coyle insists his players have the drive and the quality to stay in the Premiership.
The Staggies recorded their first win since November 4 with a resounding 4-1 success against Dundee at Dens Park on Saturday to close the gap at the bottom of the Premiership to three points.
Coyle knows his players still have it all to do but has backed them to haul the club to safety.
He said: “When you are on the run we have been on it would have been easy to think ‘here we go again’ when Dundee equalised but our response was excellent.
“We have real quality here and a team that can win games and go on a good run. People must have looked at me and thought I was off my head but I see it every day on the training ground.
“Now is the time to start winning. It was probably better that we have been on the miserable run now rather than at the end of the season as that is when winning games matters most.
“We believe there are a group of games coming which we can win and we are ready for them.
“If we can get to the split in touch with the teams around us then we are confident we will have a great chance of staying up and that is where our focus lies. We believe in the process, the longer we work together and the quality we have here is enough to give us the points we need to stay in this league.”
Coyle is not surprised by Saturday’s impressive win at Dens Park which was achieved despite the absence of several regulars, including captain Andrew Davies.
With the defender on course to return for the game against Hearts on February 17, Coyle hopes to see his players build on their morale-boosting win on Tayside.
He said: “We’ve got good players. David Ngog brought us real quality in the final third on Saturday and I’d say he is still only 80% fit.
“When you have been detached at the bottom like we have, the easy option is go route one and try to fight your way out but the football we played at Dundee was excellent. Mattias Kait, Harry Souttar and Davis Keillor-Dunn are all 19 and they were fantastic for us at Dens Park.
“Davis is a great kid and I think when the next Scotland under-21 squad is announced he should be in the running.”
