I don’t want Highlands to go low
Cowie desperate to stay up after seeing rivals ICT plummet into League One
DON COWIE is hell-bent on keeping Ross County in the top flight to stop the Highlands becoming the lowlands of Scottish football this summer.
Duncan Ferguson’s Inverness exited the Championship with last weekend’s play-off defeat and now the struggling Staggies have two games – against Raith Rovers – to save their Premiership status.
Cowie is determined to make sure it doesn’t become a double dunt for the region and that the Dingwall outfit do enough to survive these end-of-season showdowns for a second year running.
The 41-year-old, who is boss on an interim basis, said: “It is not about me.
“This is about the football club and doing what’s best for it. When you see what’s happened at Inverness in terms of falling out of the top league, the impact that can have on the Highlands is big.
“We want to be in the Premiership. We work extremely hard to be here and we have been here for 11 of the last 12 years.
“It is a real challenge but one we embrace every year. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that stays the same.”
Cowie has had spells at both Highland clubs.
He has seen Caley Thistle’s demise since they fell out of the Premiership seven years ago, which helps explain why it is crucial he keeps County fighting at the highest level.
The Staggies gaffer added: “I’m disappointed. The club played a massive part in my playing career. As much as I was only there for a short period of time, it gave me that stepping stone to achieve what I did in the game.
“As much as they are our rivals, I still keep an eye on them and want them to do well.
“I’m disappointed for them in terms of losing their play-off and the issues that seem to be happening at the club off the field.
“That’s why it is important that we, as a club, bring a bit of positivity to the Highlands.”
County are still recovering from the drama of the final day that saw St Johnstone manage to leapfrog them to the safety of 10th.
Cowie, whose side drew 2-2 with Aberdeen, said: “We’re not a team going into this tie in really poor form. The last six to eight weeks, our results have been really good.
“We have come unstuck due to our goal difference and we accept that.
“But in general, we have picked up a lot of points with really good performances.
“Despite being really disappointed, as we were on Sunday, there was still an awful lot I enjoyed about the Aberdeen game.
“We’ll need to take that into these next two matches.”
It all starts with a trip to Stark’s Park tomorrow night before the last kick of the campaign on Sunday.
The good thing from County’s point of view is they have play-off experience from last season.
Cowie was No.2 to Malky Mackay when they produced the 20-minute “miracle” to come from three down on aggregate against Partick Thistle to draw level and win a shoot-out. And he’s hoping to draw from that to inspire another late rescue job.
He said: “What we said all along during that tie was, ‘Let’s score a goal.’ Partick had gone through the play-offs pretty seamlessly.
“They had never been in that situation where it had gone against them.
“We wanted to get a goal to see how they would react to that. It just shows you, by getting that goal, how quickly the momentum can change.
“We got one, that very quickly became two and all of a sudden the belief came.
“That’s when the miracle happened. It’s having that mindset of keep going, keep believing, right until the end.”