Ross County midfielder Raffaele De Vita is determined to ensure his side’s good work is rewarded come the end of the season.
The Staggies approach today’s crucial Scottish Premiership match against Hamilton Accies just three points ahead of Motherwell, who occupy the relegation play-off position with two games left.
Having taken one point from their last possible nine, County are sweating to secure Premiership safety, despite looking all but safe following an outstanding run of eight wins in nine matches earlier in the year.
De Vita was an instrumental part of that streak, winning Premiership player of the month in March, and with County having come so close to survival the Italian is desperate to make sure they don’t let their position slip.
De Vita said: “It would be devastating if we couldn’t finish the job. When we win eight games out of nine, it’s impossible to think it is not enough.
“But other teams are doing well and we just need to keep doing what we’re doing. Apart from the Partick game there are no matches we didn’t deserve to win.
“We just need to defeat Hamilton and hopefully that will be enough.
“We know Motherwell are on good form and know they are a decent side.
“They have shown a lot more than other teams around us in the last few months. They have good players as we saw two weeks ago against them. But we’ve not done anything less than them. We’ve done a lot in the last few months and we’re still the team in form.
“Apart from the Partick game, we’ve not played badly. So, they have to be aware of us as well.”
De Vita was replaced by youngster Tony Dingwall in last weekend’s starting line-up having suffered a minor knock the previous week and, although ready to return, the 27 year-old is not taking anything for granted, having been impressed with Dingwall’s performance.
De Vita added: “I didn’t train last week, so I missed the game. Tony and others were a lot fresher by Saturday, so it was only right I sat it out.
“Just like everyone else, I’m eager to get back involved and finish the season like we deserve to because I think we have shown enough to stay in this league.
“I’m fit to go, but it’s not up to me, and Tony did really well last week, so we’ll see what happens.”
De Vita is one of several players out of contract at the end of the season and fully understands manager Jim McIntyre’s position of putting all talks on ice until safety is secured.
He added adding: “We can’t really complain about that. It would be strange to sit down now with a massive game coming up, so it makes sense.”