Cut out the mistakes and avoid the relegation play-off place

buckle down and get on with it. We have been working on shooting and attacking this week in training so hopefully we can get that into the game. Training’s been upbeat, we’re looking forward to the game.”

Remarkably, as the season tightens and the games grow fewer, the gap between 11th place and seventh is still closing. Hearts fans might even have cause now to gaze at the table and sigh; at 15 points behind County they have now earned as many points as the Dingwall side, who occupy that dreaded play-off place.

Gardyne spent some time up at County, four years in fact, so knows how difficult the trip today will be. “It’s hard to go up there,” he said. “They’ve got a good record over the years there, I know from playing up there myself, it was great. But I’ll be trying my hardest to score and hopefully we can get the win.”

Trying to stop him this afternoon will be Evangelos Oikonomou, the County defender, who yesterday hinted he wanted to remain a part of the Ross County “family” if top-flight safety is assured. The gifted Greek left-back, now in his second spell in Dingwall, spoke warmly of his time at the club, but he knows their only focus right now is the fraught battle for Premiership survival.

“I returned to Greece after my first spell in Scotland but wanted to come back because I feel very at home here,” said the 26-year-old, who played Greek top-flight football with Ionikos and Atromitos before joining County last season.

“The first time I came here, everyone who works at the club made me feel very welcome. They have become like family to me. I feel good here. I know the people and know how the manager works. It’s a good club. That’s why I came back. As for whether I stay beyond this season, we will see. First of all, we have to make sure we stay in the league.”

Oikonomou knows the pressure on the Dingwall team rose a notch after a costly and controversial defeat at Tynecastle last weekend. County now approach today’s match as the favourites to finish 11th; the stakes for the club could hardly be greater.

Oikonomou, though, has faith in his and his team-mates’ ability to hold their nerve and dig a route to safety. “We are professional players and we can handle the situation we are in,” he insisted. “We accept what happened against Hearts – and will seek to put that right against Kilmarnock. We lost the last game and now we have four very important games to play.

“We must forget about Hearts. Now we work hard for the next game on Saturday against Kilmarnock. The only focus is on winning this one and then moving to the next match.”