Connor Randall has no interest in how other clubs are approaching the new season as he targets further progress with Ross County.
The Staggies enjoyed a fine campaign last year, finishing sixth in the Premiership to record their highest placing for six years.
It was a successful first campaign in charge for Malky Mackay, who has further strengthened his squad this summer with 10 fresh additions.
Defender Randall is among the players to remain at Victoria Park, having signed a new two-year deal in March.
Despite a number of clubs looking to push up the table after underachieving last season, Randall insists there is no reason why the Staggies themselves cannot aim to improve.
Randall said: “It instils a bit of belief in the club, to achieve what we did last year.
“It gives you even more hunger to go and try to push past that, and continue the success we had.
“That will be the aim for everyone at the football club again this year, to go and match what we did last year and hopefully better it.
“I think we all know it will be difficult, but that’s the challenge as a group and what we want to achieve again.
“The big teams will be pushing again to improve on where they finished last season as well.
“There are some big clubs who probably had disappointing seasons.
“As we did last year, I don’t think we’ll look at any other clubs. We’ll just concentrate on ourselves and keep looking to improve.
“We’ll see where that can take us.”
Tynecastle a fitting stage for first game of campaign
County begin the new campaign with a difficult match away to Hearts today, with the Jambos having finished third last season to qualify for Europe.
Randall is no stranger to Tynecastle, having spent the 2017-18 season on loan with the Jambos from Liverpool.
County picked up three draws from their four meetings with Robbie Neilson’s side last term, and Randall says his side will travel to Edinburgh with no shortage of belief.
The 26-year-old added: “For the first game of the season, it will probably be a full house, a great atmosphere.
“It’s exciting. It is going to be a tough challenge as they’re a very good side, we know that.
“We had some good games against them last year, so hopefully we can go there on Saturday and give a good account of ourselves again – and come away with a positive result.
“I definitely enjoy playing there. There will be a good atmosphere and those are the type of games you want to play in.
“It will be a good challenge against a good team and we’ll go there with a belief in ourselves.”
Fresh faces have taken little time to settle into squad
The Staggies have reached the last-16 of the Premier Sports Cup, having won their group section to set up a tie at home to Celtic next month.
Having defeated League Two side East Fife 7-0 in their last outing, Randall feels County’s new-look squad are showing encouraging signs ahead of the start of league action.
Loturi x Purrington x Hiwula x Owura x Olaigbe 😍
All 7⃣ goals from our victory over East Fife 👊#Staggies🦌 pic.twitter.com/8ODi50B5Qw
— Ross County FC (@RossCounty) July 23, 2022
The Englishman added: “The new lads have all been brilliant. I’ve said many times I think it is a good group of players and staff to come into. It’s quite an easy dressing room to settle into.
“The new boys have shown very quickly they fit in well and have settled in quickly on and off the pitch.
“That’s very important.
“We’ve had a good bit of time together to gel, get to know each other and get used to how we play.
“We’ll hopefully go out there and show that at the weekend.”
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