Marcus Fraser is counting on the collective desire within the Ross County dressing room coming to the fore today as the Championship leaders chase a Premiership scalp in the Scottish Cup.
The Staggies travel to Fir Park to face last season’s cup finalists Motherwell and with the two clubs having faced each other in the top-flight last season Fraser knows his team-mates will be determined to show their Premiership qualities in today’s fourth round tie.
The County captain said: “Motherwell are a good side and we’re looking forward to it. They’ve been stop-start and have had a few injuries as well but it will be a good contest.
“We’ve played against them a lot in the last few years and we know it will be a tough game down there but we are looking forward to it.
“It’s a good contest and if people in our team think they should be playing the Premiership we should go and show that by taking the game to Motherwell and trying to win the game.
“This year we’re playing with less fear, scoring more goals and we’ve kept more shut-outs. That’s always a positive thing. The boys here are a confident bunch and there is no reason why we cannot go down there and get a result.”
Fraser returns from suspension for this afternoon’s cup-tie but Josh Mullin will miss out after his dismissal in the 4-0 defeat by Queen of the South last weekend.
County have been reduced to 10-men in their last three matches with Brian Graham’s red card in the Highland derby starting the sequence but Staggies captain Fraser insists there is discipline problem at his club.
He said: “It has been a difficult couple of weeks. I take responsibility for my red card, it was silly on my part, but sometimes these things happen and it can boil over, especially after a disappointing night where we felt we could have done better, but it’s done with now and I’m glad I can get back into it this weekend.
“Josh’s red card last week was touch and go. I don’t think there was malice in the tackle, he went in with momentum and the referee was quick to bring out the red card, but if you know Josh there was no real intent to hurt his opponent and it was harsh.
“Of course we don’t want red cards and leaving our team down to 10 men. It’s a horrible feeling as a player knowing your team is out fighting and they are a man down but we don’t want to be known for a team which gets red cards.”
