Ross Stewart will not rest easy despite his brace against Partick Thistle – as he knows he could easily be out of the team again come tomorrow.
Stewart took his tally to nine for the season for Ross County with his brace in the 4-2 win on Saturday but reckons he has to keep up his recent run of form to avoid dropping out of the team.
With six goals in his last eight games, the summer signing from St Mirren has emerged as a key figure of late for the Staggies, which has included goals in both Scottish Cup games against Highland rivals Caley Thistle. He also netted a winner in the league against Inverness in December.
He has had to be patient for his chance in Dingwall but Stewart intends on making the most of it now it has arrived.
Stewart said: “As a striker you’ll always be judged on your goals so I’m very happy with that. It’s all about the team though. It was great to get the reaction we had today and go further clear. We’ve got a lot of creativity in the team and if I keep getting myself in the box, I’ll get chances. I can’t thank my team-mates enough but I’m delighted with getting my goals.
“There’s a lot of quality in the team and it keeps everyone on their toes. You can be brought out at any day and when you’re called upon, you have to go and do a job. Whatever 11 is picked on Tuesday will be able to go out and get a result.”
With three points at the weekend and both Ayr United and Dundee United dropping points elsewhere, County extended their lead to five points at the top of the Championship. A title win this season would mean back-to-back triumphs for Stewart, who won promotion with the Buddies at the end of the last campaign.
He added: “It would be excellent to get back-to-back winner’s medals. Not many people get chance to win medals in their career so I can’t speak highly enough of that opportunity. But it’s up to the team to keep showing up week after week to get where we want to be.”
County found themselves 2-0 down at half-time and it looked as if they were suffering a hangover from their Scottish Cup exit. However, four goals in the second half against a shell-shocked Thistle ensured it was the visitors who emerged victorious from the trip to Firhill.
Stewart said: “We knew there’d be questions asked but we can’t look for excuses. You’ve got to look after yourself between games and we’re well looked after at the training facility. It took us a while to get going but when we did we were excellent.
“We’ve got a close-knit team here and when called upon, we back each other to the end. We know we’ve got that and we’re going to need it later in the season, because there’s a lot of difficult games to come.”
