Marcus Fraser enjoying Ross County’s winning run

Ross County manager Jim McIntyre. Picture: SNS

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MARCUS FRASER believes a positive mindset in training is helping to propel Ross County away from the Scottish Premiership relegation zone.

Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Partick was County’s fourth in a row and helped move a team who had been rooted to the foot of the table three points clear of basement boys St Mirren.

Craig Curran scored the only goal of a no-nonsense encounter 10 minutes before the break while Thistle saw Kallum Higginbotham dismissed in the second half for a bad foul on Michael Gardyne.

Partick are now just four points clear of County and in danger of being sucked into a relegation fight but Staggies full-back Fraser insists the Highland side are only looking up.

“We are flying in training throughout the week and everyone looks forward to the games on Saturday - we are showing that on the pitch,” he said.

Fraser also acknowledged the importance of fielding an unchanged side for the past few weeks.

“It makes a big difference,” he said. “In every game we are getting to know each other better, which is always a positive.

“It wasn’t the prettiest of games but we ground out the three points in the end - that was the most important thing.

He added: “I’m enjoying it here, it’s good - we are looking forward to every game and hopefully we can continue this form.”

The loss for Thistle was a big comedown following the impressive win at Dundee United the week before and goalkeeper Paul Gallacher found it hard to hide his disappointment.

“There wasn’t too much between the teams but County got the goal and they held on to it and they defended well throughout the match,” he said.

“It was a sore one to take because it closes the gap. We wanted to build on our good performance last week, so there is disappointment in our dressing room.”

He added: “The red card was the defining moment but we played well after that with 10 men and kept pushing, we knew it was a massive game. It was a hard afternoon

“We were up against it with a man down, he’s disappointed himself, but we reacted in the right manner and we kept pushing, we knew it was a massive game and we had a lot of chances but we just couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net.”

Gallacher was critical of his own display, although he pulled off a couple of good saves during the game.

He said: “My distribution from foot was poor today, which is unlike me. I’m gutted with that, it was a bit sloppy on my part. The conditions weren’t great and I had to deal with a few tricky back-passes but at the end of the day you take pride in your performance and I thought that aspect of my game was poor today.

“But I still managed a few good saves, there was a block in there near the end which kept us in the game. But I think over the piece we created more chances.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s match against St Johnstone at Firhill, he added: “We need to pick up three points because it is getting close at the bottom of the league now.

“We are under no illusions we are in the mix, we’re in a bit of trouble. The result today shows we are in for a tough end to the season.”