Ross County defender Paul Quinn and his team-mates have no time to feel sorry for themselves following league and cup defeats to St Johnstone.
The Staggies followed a 2-1 loss in the Scottish Premiership at McDiarmid Park with another defeat by the same scoreline in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup on Saturday.
County’s focus will now be on moving off the foot of the Scottish Premiership.
They can do that with a win or a draw when Dundee United visit Victoria Park on Friday evening.
Quinn believes the international break was a factor behind why the Staggies failed to build on last month’s 3-0 win at Kilmarnock, but there are no excuses.
He said: “We definitely lost the momentum because of the international break but I have needed the international break before in my career when we have lost two or three in a row and the break has been a good thing.
“It is part of football and when people make excuses you just read right through it.
“People can put the deflectors up but we are professionals and we are paid to do a job.
“The break was a stumbling block we had to overcome, but we didn’t manage to.
“But we have some massive games coming up, it is a great month ahead. We want to get off the bottom of the table as soon as we can.”
The Staggies have only won once in seven matches, a contrast to in-form Dundee United who can move to the top of the table with a victory on Friday.
Five of Ross County’s next eight matches during the busy festive schedule are at home and Quinn hopes his side can kick off a pivotal month with a win against the Tangerines.
The former Doncaster Rovers, Cardiff City and Motherwell defender added: “We don’t have time to dwell on defeats in football, we need to dust ourselves down and get over it quickly.
“Preparation for this week’s game will be top notch. Everything the management do is geared towards the game on Saturday.
“We have learned a few lessons from the St Johnstone matches. We have started slowly in games and we know we can’t afford to do that.”