Malky Mackay hopes his side can find a clinical edge in today’s crucial Premiership encounter against Kilmarnock.
The Staggies go into the match bottom of the table with their opponents, along with Dundee United and Motherwell, three points ahead of them.
In order to do that, Mackay knows his side must improve on a poor recent goalscoring run which has seen them find the net just once in their last six games.
The Staggies boss has bolstered his attacking options with the additions of Josh Stones and Eamonn Brophy, and Mackay hopes they can help his side to regain their spark.
Mackay said: “I genuinely don’t think we’re far away with what we’re doing. We’re close with every team with facing, and it just needs someone to step up and actually stick the ball in the net.
“It just needs a wee spark in that final third, and if you get two wins suddenly you’re not the team holding everyone else up that’s under pressure.
“There’s plenty of football to play, and there’s plenty of belief in them.
“Clearly Hamilton was a disappointment, but we should have been out of sight in the first 15 minutes.
“That’s the frustrating thing, it could have been 3-0 in the first 15 minutes and the game would have been dead.
“No disrespect to Hamilton, I’m just talking about us, and we needed that spark to go and put the ball in the net to make it a different game.”
Staggies out to make amends
Mackay says his players are eager to show a spirited response following their recent struggles.
He added: “We can lift the players reasonably easily. We just get back out on the grass and they want to make amends for that.
“We’re back into the league action against a team that’s very close to us.
“We need to make sure we pick up points against a team that’s around us.
“It’s great being back home again. We know what Kilmarnock will entail and it will be a really tough encounter for both sides – a war of attrition.
“We will go into it knowing exactly what’s coming and we’re looking forward to it.”
Hibs unwilling to switch fixture date
The visit of Killie marks the first instalment of a quickfire home double headers, with Hibernian making the trip north on Tuesday.
Mackay revealed discussions were held about switching the Hibs match to February 11, with both sides out of the Scottish Cup which holds its fifth round that weekend.
The Staggies boss says the Edinburgh outfit were keen to play the game on its original date.
He added: “There was a conversation between ourselves and Hibs after we both went out of the cup as to whether we would move the game to a Saturday.
“It wouldn’t have been so rapid between games, and we put that to them, but it appears they want the game immediately.
“That’s fine, because that’s what it was going to be anyway.”
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