Don Cowie stresses Ross County have no room for free hit ahead of Rangers’ visit to Dingwall this weekend
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Don Cowie insists that Ross County’s match against Rangers this weekend is not a free hit, given the club’s position in the Scottish Premiership table.
The Staggies’ interim manager is set to welcome the Glasgow giants to Dingwall knowing that County cannot afford to lose any more ground on their rivals at the bottom of the table.
Defeat at Kilmarnock, coupled with St Johnstone’s win over Hibernian, have left Cowie’s side four points adrift of the Perth outfit in the battle to avoid a relegation play-off for a second consecutive season.
With just six games left in the season, then, Cowie knows that he cannot afford to let any opportunity to pick up valuable results pass, even against a team like title-chasing Rangers.
"It is not a free hit,” Cowie stressed.
“It is six very important games, and every one of them is equally important.
"It is about trying to get three points in every game you play.
"I don't buy into just because it is Rangers you accept (a defeat) or whatever you get is a bonus. You go and attack the game to try and get maximum points and see what happens at the end of the match.
"In terms of the whole six games as a group, you must take each game as comes because there will be varying circumstances for each game.”
Sunday’s game will have great significance for Rangers, too, with the Ibrox outfit neck and neck with Celtic in the title race.
They will be desperate not to give an inch to their city rivals, so County will have to prepare for a Gers side as sharp as ever in Dingwall.
Cowie is realistic over the scale of the challenge, but he is adamant his players will rise to the occasion of trying to claim a shock result.
"Everyone outwith this changing room and the club will assume Rangers will come here and win,” he reasoned.
"We have got to use that as motivation. Life in general is about trying to prove people wrong – come Sunday, we will try and prove people wrong again.
"You know you have to perform at your best to get anything out of the game.
"Celtic are Rangers are two massive clubs in our league, but teams have proven even this season they can be beatable.
“You must take positives from that. We will have a game plan to try and deal with how good a team they are, but also cause them problems going the opposite way.”
The one new question mark over Cowie’s squad comes in the shape of Josh Reid, who was forced off just before half time against Kilmarnock last weekend.
While optimistic that it was not an overly serious issue, Cowie says it remains to be seen whether the homegrown talent will be available to face Rangers this weekend.
"Josh felt his hamstring at Kilmarnock,” Cowie added.
“The early signs are positive. It doesn't seem to be anything too serious, which is good.
"He has been really good in the last two months, so it is frustrating for him that he had to come off. We will see how things progress this week and whether the game comes too soon.
"It is the same squad from last weekend. Josh is the only one we have a query about.”
