Ross County forward Liam Boyce has credited the Staggies management team with helping him hit the goal trail.
After a nine-match goal drought, Northern Ireland international Boyce has netted four times in his last two games, with his winner in last Tuesday’s 1-0 win against St Johnstone followed by a hat-trick in the 3-0 win against St Mirren on Monday.
The result stretches County’s unbeaten run to nine games, eight of which have been victories, and crucially moved them six points clear of second-bottom Motherwell in the relegation play-off spot.
County manager Jim McIntyre and assistant Billy Dodds are both former attackers, and Boyce says the pair have been instrumental in keeping him upbeat despite a long period without hitting the net.
Boyce said: “The manager and Billy are always in my ear in training, just telling me to get in and around the box – that I need to get myself between the posts to score goals.
“My first and last goals against St Mirren were like that. It’s been great having them taking me under their wing, passing on their experience and knowledge.
“When I wasn’t scoring, the manager was telling me to keep doing what I was doing, keep providing assists and playing a key part in every goal we score, and the goals for myself would come. Thankfully, he was right.
“Since the manager and the rest of his team have come in, we’ve got our tactics down. It’s taken a while for the team to gel and getthe fitness levels up. The way we play is very demanding, we pressurise teams. When we got to that level, we seem to have carried on and stayed at that level.”
Despite moving six points clear of second-bottom Well in the relegation play-off spot, Boyce says the job is far from done, and the 24-year-old is intent on keeping the momentum going in his side’s remaining five games.
Boyce added: “Our main objective is to stay up. We will have some big games coming up in the next couple of weeks, so, hopefully, I can score again.
“It’s only another three points. After the split we’ll be playing teams in and around us, and things can change rapidly.
“That happened with us, we were six points adrift in early February, but now we’re 16 points clear of St Mirren. We just need to keep our form going.
“We drew at Paisley earlier in the season and lost against them at home. The last few games we’ve played sides we hadn’t beaten earlier in the season. We’ve needed to show we can beat them and, thankfully, we have.”