Malky Mackay is remaining calm amid the pressure of attempting to steer Ross County off the Premiership’s bottom spot.
The Staggies face Motherwell at Fir Park in a vital encounter on Saturday, with Mackay’s men trailing the Steelmen by three points.
County are eagerly looking to kick start their campaign, having suffered five losses from their last six matches.
Mackay, who has a wealth of managerial experience in England with Watford, Cardiff City and Wigan Athletic, is keen to lead with composure.
He said: “Over a period of years, where you are three or four hundred games deep, you need to stay calm and steady.
“That’s when things are going well, and also when times are tough.
“You are never as bad as you seem, and you are never as good as you seem. That’s something I have always looked at.
“It comes to whether you are trying the right things for the club, and keeping your options as broad minded as possible, so you are not stubborn, with tunnel vision as to not trying anything else.
“At the end of the day, I have not seen much difference in the application of the players from what I did six months ago.
“We just need to make sure we do that final thing a bit better.”
Staggies have experienced campaigners in squad
Mackay also takes reassurance from the experience of a number of players in his squad, who have successfully staved off the threat of relegation in previous years.
He added: “We have guys at the club who have been in situations.
“We are one of what you would suggest are the smaller clubs in the division, so there’s always that feeling we are a team that have had to deal with this before.
“We have been in these situations before, and fought our way out of it before.
“I have players that have been able to do that, which they have got the experience of.
“You stay calm in these situations.”
Both County and Well are approaching the game short on form, with the home side having won just one of their last 11 games and searching for only their second home victory of the campaign.
Mackay, who is without midfielder Ben Paton through a knee injury, knows his side must take matters into their own hands.
The Staggies boss added: “We need to get points on the board, undoubtedly.
“I look exactly at where everyone is every week, and where we are, so we need to get back to winning games to get points.
“It’s tight between a lot of teams, but we’ve got to do our bit, without a doubt.”
