Defender Connor Randall is urging Ross County to keep their feet on the ground as they seek to move towards safety in the Premiership.
The Dingwall team put Dundee United bottom of the table and moved two points ahead of them thanks to Jordan White’s hat-trick sealing a 3-1 Tannadice triumph last week.
That came just one week after a fine 2-0 home win against Livingston and they are just one point behind 10th-placed Kilmarnock with just three games to go.
St Johnstone, who are three points ahead of County, visit Dingwall this Wednesday before the Staggies conclude the campaign at Killie next weekend.
After losing 6-1 at Hearts last month, County have shown terrific strength to respond and give themselves a fighting chance of beating the drop.
Calm focus serving the Staggies well
Randall said keeping a cool head when the pressure has served them well and that’s what they aim to do on Saturday against Motherwell.
He said: “We never get ahead of ourselves either way.
“Going into the split we were four points off it, but we kept calm and had the right mentality to believe we could get results to get back in there.
“We’ve done that, but we’re not looking at it any differently than we were when we were four points behind.
“It’s still just a one-game swing either way that could change it up. It’s just about fully focusing on the next game.
“We have confidence off the back of our last couple of results, so we’ll take that into the next game and hopefully we’ll get a positive win.
“Saturday is massive, because obviously they’re high pressure games – there’s no beating around the bush with that.
“We’ve just got to stay calm and focus on the next game, and that’s what we’re doing going into Saturday against Motherwell.”
Aiming to shut out van Veen
Randall, who was part of a three-man defence alongside Jack Baldwin and Alex Iacovitti against Dundee United, knows the back-line will be up against a real threat in the shape of Kevin van Veen this weekend.
The Dutchman has scored in eight successive top-flight games, the first Motherwell player to do so since the Second World War.
He is the first player in Scotland to score in eight successive top-flight league games since Craig Dargo achieved the feat for Caley Thistle in 2006.
Van Veen has scored five goals overall in 5-0 and 2-0 wins in Dingwall this season and Randall says they have done their homework in a bid to thwart his record-bidding attempts.
The 27-year-old Englishman said: “He’s obviously having a great season and scoring a lot of goals, so we always look at the strengths of your opponents and the key threats they’ve got.
“We’ll do our best to nullify that. He’s obviously having a great season, but we’ll approach it like we would in any other game.”
Subs making telling impacts in games
On-loan Hibs midfielder Nohan Kenneh and striker Simon Murray came on as substitutes and set up White for his second and third goals at Tannadice.
And Randall, who has 26 appearances for County this season, stressed there are roles to be played all round, whether players start games or not, and that is giving them the edge over rivals.
He added: “The impact that our subs have made has been massive.
“They have come on and changed a game, getting us further in front or back in a game. That’s the attitude of the group.
“Obviously, boys are disappointed not to be playing, but they come on and do their job on the pitch and apply themselves properly.
“That’s something that could move us ahead of other teams – the power we’ve got off the bench.
“We’ve got a great squad, as we saw against Livingston with Josh Stones and Alex Samuel coming on and having a massive effect.
“Simon Murray, Jordan Tillson and Nohan Kenneh came off the bench against Dundee United.
“These are good players coming on that are fighting to start and they will be disappointed when they’re not.
“It’s a real collective effort here with everyone, that’s the main thing, and I think you can see that.”
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