Cowie hopes training time pays dividends when County face Livingston in crunch clash

Don Cowie is hoping valuable time spent on the training pitch will pay dividends when Ross County play Livingston in a potentially-pivotal cinch Premiershipmatchnextweekend.

While the Staggies were losing to Dundee at Dens on Saturday thanks to a decisive double from Scott Tiffoney, the Lions were beating St Mirren.

David Martindale’s men remain rooted to the bottom of the Premiership but they have now moved to within just three points of the Highland outfit.

Cowie, who took over as County interim boss after the departure of Derek Adams earlier this month, hopes to reap the rewards of having no midweek fixture before the crunch clash with Livi on Saturday.

He said: “The players are a little bit down after the game because they put a lot into it, and probably felt they deserved at least a point. It’s my job to make sure they bounce back from that, and on Monday we are ready for a big game.

“We played Rangers on Wednesday and got back at three in the morning. We were in at lunchtime on Thursday, and back down the road again today. It has been difficult, and challenging. Next week allows us to have a bit more time on the training field and I’m looking forward to that.”

County had a great chance to take the lead against Dundee in the first half on Saturday but home keeper Trevor Carson pulled off a vital save from Simon Murray.

However, Cowie insists his players cannot focus on what might have been and instead need to look forward.

He said: “I think we had the best chance of the first half. Simon had a very good chance with a header which was a really good save from Carson.

“It’s about not feeling sorry for ourselves. We’ve got to just keep doing what we are doing and working away.”

The victory for Dundee further cemented their place in sixth spot in the Premiership table with the Dark Blues now just three points off St Mirren in fifth with a game in hand.

However, Dens boss Tony Docherty insists everyone at the club is keeping their feet firmly on the ground.

He said: “We’ll just keep going. We won’t get ahead of ourselves. That’s the great thing about this squad, they are grounded and work so hard for each other.”