Ross County co-boss Steven Ferguson has called on his side to raise their energy levels from the draining 4-0 defeat against Livingston.
Ferguson was not prepared to make the Norovirus outbreak that had hampered County’s preparations be an excuse for the loss, with the 42-year-old saying the Staggies looked “devoid of energy”.
Keith Watson, Iain Vigurs, Michael Gardyne, Liam Fontaine and Brian Graham were the five players who were ultimately not fit enough to take part at Almondvale, after County had cancelled training on Wednesday and Thursday to stop the spread of the bug.
They have Motherwell to come in three days time in Dingwall, with the players’ fitness levels to be assessed again ahead of the Boxing Day clash.
Ferguson said: “It will depend on how the group are feeling. Normally yes, but we’ll assess it again.
“I felt we were devoid of energy on Saturday and that was disappointing. We were so energetic against Kilmarnock and Hibs and to get a result in this league, we feel we need the energy levels to be through the roof. We didn’t reach the energy levels we would have liked to on Saturday.
“That’s our issue, our problem. We credit Livingston for what’s a great result for them but we’re disappointed ourselves, obviously.”
The co-manager was disappointed to come back down to earth after their back-to-back victories against sides contending for places in the top six. It is the second time this season they have shipped four goals against Livingston, having lost 4-1 at home to the Lions in August.
Ferguson added: “It’s not what we were wanting. We didn’t compete well enough. It’s been a difficult week so we’ll just need to take this one on the chin.
“The last two games we’d done really well and got a bit of confidence back. We were expecting a wee bit more of that and we’ll see if we can correct them for the next game we play. It’s happened; we can either feel sorry for ourselves and look for excuses, or take it on the chin.”
Lyndon Dykes hit a treble in Saturday’s game, with Ricki Lamie also finding the net.
