St Johnstone boss Callum Davidson insists his players realise they are in a fight ahead of their Scottish Premiership clash with Ross County.
Saints went on an 11-game unbeaten run after suffering a series of narrow defeats in the early part of the season.
But they have been drawn back into the bottom four ahead of Saturday’s trip to Dingwall after taking one point from a possible 15.
And County’s surprise win over Hibernian in midweek, coupled with St Johnstone’s goalless draw at home to Hamilton, left the Perth side just three points off the bottom.
Davidson told Saints TV ahead of the game: “They are all big just now. They are all really important. The players realise where we are.
“Over the Christmas period it hasn’t been as good as we wanted, with three sendings-off and things that cost us in games.
“I actually think we have performed OK. I wouldn’t say there is any difference between our (unbeaten) run and what we are on. It’s just getting into that good habit again of scoring goals and not conceding them.
“Against Ross County I think it’s going to be a very tough game.
‘We need to convert our chances’
“They are obviously fighting and scrapping as well, so we need to make sure we are up for the fight first and ready to go, and give ourselves a chance of getting something out the game.”
Davidson told his team to “keep performing the way we are and score goals”.
He added: “The attitude and application has been brilliant. Now we need to make sure we need to start converting our chances and give ourselves an opportunity to win games of football and climb the league.
“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We know where we are, we are in a fight, we all know we are, and we need to crack on.”
