Ross County not giving St Mirren an easy ride

Ross County Manager Jim McIntyre gives out instructions from the dugout. Picture: SNS Group

The Buddies fell 10 points adrift of second-bottom Motherwell after collapsing in a 5-0 defeat by the Steelmen at Fir Park on Tuesday night with their boss admitting his side is on the brink.

When asked afterwards if he felt his team could avoid the drop, Teale said: ‘’On the back of that, no.”

Conversely, County are the country’s form side with seven wins and one draw in their last eight games and have moved into 10th place, 13 points clear of the Paisley men but McIntyre is drawing no conclusions.

He said: “He (Teale) is being realistic in saying it is going to be extremely difficult (to stay up).

“But it is still mathematically possible so nothing changes from our point of view.

“We are going there with the mindset that we need to win the match and we know it will be difficult.

“The games between us have been tight this year, they won the last one up here.

“They will also be hurting from the result and performance the other night and they will be desperate to put a performance on for the fans in Paisley.

“They know they need to win the match against us so that makes them very dangerous indeed, with a lot to play for.”

McIntyre is still sore about the trip to Paisley in October when he felt his side should have returned north with three points.

The County boss claimed it was ‘’crystal clear’’ that referee Don Robertson got it wrong in disallowing a Michael Gardyne ‘goal’ in the 2-2 draw.

“The decisions that day with the offside goal, it should never have been,” he said.

“We should have gone up the road with three points. We were the better side that day and should have won the match but a linesman’s decision done us out of it.

“But this will be a close game. They have got good players who can hurt you.

“They have been in a poor period of form but, as I say, they will be really determined to put on a show.”