Ross County manager Don Cowie implores Staggies squad to find fearless streak to fire Dingwall club to Premiership safety
Ross County manager Don Cowie says his players need to find Staggies spirit to be fearless in the final weeks of the season to secure their Premiership status for 2025/26.
County slipped into the relegation play-off spot last weekend after losing 2-0 to Kilmarnock, leaving fans bracing for the possibility of a third consecutive play-off to save their top flight status.
Concerningly, the loss at Rugby Park was County’s fifth in-a-row, following pre-split defeats against Hearts, Dundee United, Aberdeen and St Mirren.
Cowie acknowledges that recent displays have not been good enough, but with the Jambos next on the agenda for the Staggies – and now managerless after Neil Critchley’s departure last weekend – he is relying on his players unleashing their full potential back in the Highlands this Saturday.
"We're an honest group and I'm an honest person – we're second bottom of the league and that's not where we want to be,” Cowie said.
"We have still got it in our hands, but as I have said to the boys, we can't say 'we have four games' or 'we have three games' left. The next one is the most important one and that's this week.
"No one will give us anything as everyone is fighting for their lives. Bits have been good and we've worked hard, but we need to play with less fear, given the position we're in.
"We need to produce that Ross County spirit that we have produced year after year – now is the time to do it again.
"I remind the players what they are capable of doing and show them what they have produced at times this season to get that confidence back up.
"That can change in one game, but we cannot keep waiting for that moment. We need to, individually and collectively, change that.
"Our spirit is the foundation of this football club, and we need to tap into that going into this spell of four games.”
County will most likely have to do that without the services of Scott Allardice, who went off injured at Kilmarnock an hour into his first start since December 21.
They may also not have Ross Laidlaw available after illness, but Will Nightingale is back in the fold after picking up a knock ahead of the trip to St Mirren earlier this month.
“Scott hasn’t started a lot, but we played him on Saturday and I thought he was probably our best player in the hour that he played,” Cowie added.
“I’m disappointed for him that he had to come off with discomfort in his knee.
“We’ve had it scanned. There could be damage there that rules him out for the rest of the season, but he is not feeling that way, so we’ll just see how it goes over the next few days in terms of how the injury settles down.
“It could be that we get a second opinion. He has had a history of injury on the knee it has happened to so it could be that the scan showed up an older injury, rather than something that happened on Saturday.
“Scott doesn’t think it is that bad compared to what the scans is saying, so well take a bit of time to digest that and see how he progresses.”
“Ross is ill and still not back in the building, so he is a doubt for this weekend.
“Will wasn’t available on the eve of the St Mirren game which has been a reflection of his stop-start season, really frustrating for him and us, but he is back training again.”
