Don Cowie says Ross County’s stunning 5-0 triumph against Dundee in October will have no bearing on Saturday’s encounter between the sides.
The Staggies ran out convincing winners when the sides last met at Dens Park to record their biggest ever top-flight triumph.
Malky Mackay’s side had failed to win any of their previous 10 matches, but have lost only one of their last five, including the five-goal triumph.
With the Dingwall men looking to reduce the five-point gap between the sides, assistant boss Cowie says his side must approach the match with a fresh mindset.
He said: “You’ve got to look at it in isolation.
“It’s three points, and we did a lot of things right that night. If every member of your team does things right and gets pass marks, the majority of the time you’re going to win the game. That’s what happened.
“It just so happened we scored five goals, and we were very clinical. There are lots of other games where we have created a similar number of opportunities and we haven’t quite taken them.
“It’s a new game. Dundee have responded brilliantly since that match, so it’s going to be a tough one for us.”
Dundee have put crushing defeat behind them in recent weeks
The heavy home defeat sparked an angry reaction from Dundee’s fans towards manager James McPake and his players.
Although County have generated momentum from the result, Cowie is equally mindful of Dundee’s strong reaction.
He added: “We’ve built on that result, which is important for us.
“The results suggest we’ve picked up quite a few points since then, but at the same time Dundee have responded excellently since then.
“They’ve shown great character.
“To lose a game 5–0 is never nice, but James has obviously got a squad of players there that can respond. They have shown that.
“They have won three of their last five since that match, and their two defeats were against the Old Firm, so they come up here in good form.
“It will be a totally different game than six weeks ago when we played them.
“It’s got the making of a very good game, because it’s two in-form teams.”
The visit of Dundee starts a busy run of seven games in 22 days prior to the winter break, with Cowie eager to build on recent results.
He added: “It’s a block of games we’ve got now, seven games in three weeks, and we’ll focus on all seven.
“Dundee is the first one of those, and that’s the only thing we can look at right now.
“We’re at home, we want to build on what we’ve been doing, the performances have been good and we’ve been getting points.
“It’s just about adding to that and Saturday is a great opportunity, but it will be a tough one.”
