Ross County manager Malky Mackay insists his seasoned campaigners will ensure there is no panic following the Staggies’ opening three Premiership losses.
County are the only team in the league yet to register a point, having fallen to defeats against Hearts, Celtic and St Mirren.
The Dingwall outfit will aim to get off the mark for the campaign when they host Kilmarnock on Saturday.
Mackay has overseen a big transition, with 10 players having joined the Staggies during the course of the summer.
The County boss says the core of players who remain from last term have a vital role in applying the trust in his process, as they aim to get back to winning ways.
Mackay said: “I’m delighted the guys that I had from last season are still here.
“There’s a calmness to the group, there’s no overreacting after three games, but also after one performance.
“We can look at the first two and how we played, and I’m glad there is a backbone to the team now that I didn’t have a year ago.
“I know what they give me, and that adds a little bit of reliability to the group.
“Then we bed the new guys in around about that.”
County boss craves long-term stability
While the process of embedding the new arrivals into his squad is already well underway, Mackay hopes the rewards will be felt for many years to come.
He added: “That is the basis of everything we believe in at the club. They are already fundamental to that, they are ingrained in it and they have been at it for a year now with me.
“That’s the good bit. We’ve just got to make sure the new recruits gel into that, and they click.
“That’s the thing we’ve got to try and do as quickly as possible. Hopefully, as I’ve said before, in a year’s time, it’s really one or two people we are looking at and the rest are one or two years into a group.
“To change 14 in year one, and 10 in year two, you can’t keep doing that every year if you want a bit of stability at a football club.
“We’ve got a group that are mostly under contract and hopefully will be here next year, a further on with more experience of the way of working.”
Staggies intend on getting back on track
While Mackay felt his side fell below standard in their 1-0 defeat to St Mirren on Saturday he is in no mood to dwell on it, with a focus on quickly getting back on track against Killie this weekend.
He added: “Obviously I’ve been doing this a long time, so I’ve been through it a lot of times unfortunately.
“You’ve obviously got to talk about it – you don’t sweep things under the carpet – but then it’s about making sure you get back out there.
“That’s the way you get back to performing, get back out there and keep practicing so that the players can build their confidence up every day.”
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