Ross County’s lead at the top of the Championship is now 11 points but defender Keith Watson is determined to keep piling the pressure on challengers Dundee United and Ayr United.
The Staggies beat Falkirk 2-1 at Victoria Park to increase the gap at the top of the table and can extend it again if they beat Caley Thistle in Inverness tomorrow in the final Highland derby of the season.
Watson knows that will be easier said than done against an in-form Caley Thistle.
He said: “The rest of the teams don’t play until the following day. We obviously have to go and do what we need to do on the Friday, hopefully take care of that, and if we do win it puts pressure on the teams below us to get a result.
“We need to concentrate on ourselves first and foremost and, if we do get the win, we can sit and enjoy our Saturday – and see what happens elsewhere.
“Friday brings another derby – and we always have to dig-in in the derby.
“We’ve had a difficult run of fixtures and they will make it hard for us. The derbies this season have all been good games.
“Caley Thistle are in good form as well. They have probably drawn more games in the league than they’d have liked, but they have put together a good run of form now.
“It has all the makings of a great derby again and we’re definitely looking to through there and get the victory.”
Watson’s goal for County on Tuesday turned out to be the eventual winner for the Staggies and while delighted with the crucial win the 29-year-old echoed the sentiments of co-managers Stuart Kettlewell and Steven Ferguson that there is still much work to be done to bring the title to Victoria Park.
He said: “It was a massive win. We knew, going into it, it was our game in hand with no other team playing. To get the three points was always going to be massive.
“It was a difficult game, especially when they nicked the goal at the end from the penalty.
“They put everybody forward and, with 10 men (following Tom Grivosti’s dismissal), we were just digging in. But the boys got there in the end.
“It’s a massive win but there is still a long way to go.
“We had to show character again. We’ve got a great squad of players here and we believe, going into every game, we’re going to win it.
“Sometimes that’s ugly and sometimes we go out and play good football. On Tuesday, for the first half hour we were excellent and got two goals in front but they came into it more in a scrappy second half.
“It was about taking three points and we got them.”
