Captain Keith Watson insists Ross County will be ready for battle when they lock horns with his old club Dundee United in Saturday’s Premiership basement clash in Dingwall.
The defender admits the side fell below their expected standards in their 1-0 league loss at St Mirren.
An early goal from ex-Aberdeen centre-half Declan Gallagher secured the points to lift the Paisley Saints to fifth and keep County locked just one point below rock-bottom Dundee United.
Successive home games against the Tangerines then ninth-placed Motherwell will give County real hope of kicking clear of immediate danger with just seven games to go before the split.
Watson, who won the Scottish Cup final in 2010 with Dundee United against Ross County, served the Taysiders for nine years.
Captain calls for big improvement
Now in his fifth year with County, the skipper is determined to lead his men through a week of hard graft, built on the belief it will end with a vital victory.
He said: “We will look over the St Mirren game on Monday and put that to bed.
“Our next two games are at home to Dundee United and Motherwell, which are massive.
“As a team, we need to perform much better than we did against St Mirren.
“Dundee United are a decent team and they will be coming up here fancying their chances of getting their season going.
“We need to be up for the battle. We have a lot of quality in our team that can cause them a lot of problems.
“We had a two-week break since our last game at Ibrox where we put on a good show (in a 2-1 defeat).
“Before that, we beat Kilmarnock and drew with Hibs. We go into this week still really confident.
“But we need to regroup and stick together. We know there are still plenty of games to go, but we also know Saturday is massive for us.
“The boys will work hard this week. We’re all together as a group and we want to go out and win this game.”
Squad will ‘stick together’ this week
Goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw, who pulled off several key stops against St Mirren, was perhaps the only County player who would be satisfied overall with their overall display.
And Watson accepts it just wasn’t good enough, given the position County are in.
He said: “We were really disappointed in the changing room. We didn’t perform anywhere near the levels we know we can.
“We didn’t start the game very well at all. St Mirren really penned us in and got their goal.
“I didn’t think it got much better from that point.
“Saturday was really disappointing. Just not good enough from everyone.
“We have got a really good group of boys here, who will stick together. There will be a reaction and that starts on Monday.
“We will have a good week of training and prepare for Saturday and look to get back to winning ways.”
Buddies game was chance for County
After a flat first half from County, manager Malky Mackay began the second period with a hat-trick of subs, with debut winger Gwion Edwards, who is on loan from Wigan Athletic, Owura Edwards, and Ross Callachan pitched in.
There was an improvement, but they could not break down the Saints.
Watson felt Saturday’s trip to Paisley really was a missed opportunity.
He added: “The manager felt we needed more attackers on the pitch, and he put on a couple of wingers and tried to have a go.
“We kept it at 1-0, so there was always a chance we could sneak something.
“We had a couple of half chances, but it wasn’t our day. It was a game we felt we could have won.”
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