BELL ON THE BALL FOR TITLE
ROSS COUNTY v AYR UTD
STEVEN BELL reckons Ayr can forget about the title if they fail to beat Ross County in tonight’s crunch clash.
Ian McCall’s side have been the Championship surprise package but have slipped away after winning just one of their last four and failed to score in their last two.
But Bell insists they can get their title challenge on track with a Highland victory as they look to bounce back from a defeat to Dunfermline.
The 33-year-old said: “It’s a massive game for both teams but with us dropping points on Saturday and them coming back from two down to win against Partick Thistle I’d say it’s must-win for us.
“We’re five points behind and we’ve played a game more so, while they would still have to win their game in hand, it would be a tough task with 10 games to go.
“We need to go up there and compete and do better than we have in the last two games. We need to win, basically. It’s a tough league with County, Dundee United and Inverness.
“And the last thing we want is for a big gap to develop at the top and then start hanging on for the play-offs. That’s not our mentality.
“We’ll be going up there to win and try and kickstart our challenge again.”
Meanwhile, Kenny van der Weg believes County used mind over matter to muster the energy to storm back and beat Thistle.
The Dutch defender praised the Staggies’ character in turning a 2-0 half-time deficit into a stunning 4-2 triumph.
And it came just days after an exhausting extra time and penalties loss to Caley Thistle.
Van der Weg said: “We showed a huge amount of character to come back.
“In the first half we maybe looked tired after playing so many games but we showed how good we are.
“Tiredness can be in the mind but after the games we’ve played, and with extra time in the Scottish Cup on Tuesday, you do feel it a bit in the body.
“But in the second half we said, ‘Let’s get the goal early’. Once we did I had no fears we wouldn’t win.
“We gave everything in that second half and showed just strong we are, mentally and physically, and how hard we fight for one another. After seeing the power we had left to turn the game we know we’re strong enough to go again.”
County co-manager Steven Ferguson accepts his team have “a fantastic opportunity” to put some serious distance between themselves and Ayr.
He said: “Ayr will always be a threat. We know they’ll be hurting with the run they’re on but they’re still in the mix.”