Eamonn Brophy says the belief instilled in him by interim manager Don Cowie can help him to rediscover his goalscoring spark for Ross County.
Striker Brophy has started both matches since Cowie took temporary charge, with Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Dundee his first full 90-minute outing since March 18 last year.
Brophy found game time hard to come by under previous manager Derek Adams, having been limited to just four substitute appearances.
Prior to Adams’ short spell in Dingwall, Brophy had been attempting to force his way back into the side following a thigh injury, with his last goal coming in a 3-3 draw with Motherwell on October 28.
County have struggled for firepower in recent weeks, with three strikes from fellow attacker Simon Murray their only goals in eight matches since the turn of the year.
Brophy says Cowie has given him all the encouragement he needs in order to step up to the mark.
He said: “Since the manager has taken the job, I have spoken to him and I’m in his plans, which is good.
“That’s what I wanted to hear, so hopefully I can start scoring goals and helping the team to win games.
“I’m just glad to be back playing football. It was obviously a frustrating time under Derek but that’s football – it happens.
“It is what it is, and hopefully now I can kick on and help the team.
“I just want to score as many goals as I can. I believe if I’m playing, I will score goals.
“I had a few on Saturday that I could have done a lot better with, but that’s what happens sometimes.
“Hopefully I can help the team by scoring goals and getting assists.”
Frustrating afternoon for Ross County against Dundee
Brophy was frustrated to come away from Saturday’s Dens Park encounter empty-handed, with a goal in each half from Scott Tiffoney securing all three points for Tony Docherty’s side.
It means County have now failed to record a victory in their last 11 games in all competitions.
Brophy added: “It was the same as the other night against Rangers – it was disappointing not to see the half out.
“I thought in the first half, if anybody was going to score it was going to be us.
“But that’s football – we didn’t take our chances. We had a couple of lapses in concentration and they scored two goals.
“It’s disappointing. We came to Dundee trying to get three points, and to come away with nothing again is very frustrating.
“But I don’t think it was the worst performance from us. I thought we actually played quite well at times, but we just couldn’t get that goal. Our defending, at times, could have been a lot better, as well as going forward.
“That’s the difference when it’s going your way. Dundee had a couple of chances and took them, while we didn’t.”
Crunch Livingston fixture awaits
County will now turn their attention to a huge fixture against bottom side Livingston at Victoria Park on Saturday.
The Lions recorded their first league win since October with a 1-0 triumph over St Mirren on Saturday, which leaves them only three points behind the Staggies.
Brophy insists there would be no better time to secure a return to winning ways.
He added: “There are a lot of games to be played from now until the end of the season, but it’s massive.
“The Dundee game was massive, but next week will be even bigger after Livingston won.
“They will be coming with a bit of confidence. We need to make sure we go and win the game. We need to try to take maximum points.
“We need to win games. We can’t be too worried about other teams.
“We have still got the split to play but we want to go in there and try to catch the teams above us, and not worry about the automatic drop.
“We need to start winning games of football.”
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