Don Cowie warned his freefalling Ross County side they cannot feel sorry for themselves after a seventh consecutive defeat away to fellow strugglers St Johnstone cranked up the threat of relegation.
County, having been 10 points clear of bottom spot just two months ago, are now only three points ahead of last-placed Saints with two games to play after going down 2-1 at McDiarmid Park.
Elliot Watt scored the winner for the hosts on the hour after County forward Alex Samuel cancelled out Daniels Balodis’ opener just before the break.
The Staggies thought they had grabbed what would have been a crucial equaliser in the 82nd minute but Ronan Hale’s effort was ruled out for offside after a lengthy VAR check.
“You think you’ve got a point when Ronan scores a goal with 10 minutes to go but in terms of fine margins, that probably sums up the run that we’re on right now,” said boss Cowie.
“Just fine lines. From the clip I’ve seen, it’s very tight, but I’ve not seen the VAR side of it.
“I’ve just said to the group, there’s no point feeling sorry for ourselves, because I certainly am not going to.
“We’ve got two massive games coming up. Despite the poor run of form that we’ve been on, we have still got an opportunity to get ourselves out of the situation that we’re in. We’re making it difficult for ourselves, but we’ve still got that opportunity.”
Cowie was irked after wing-back Zac Ashworth was shown a straight card in the 10th minute of stoppage time for dissent, ruling him out of Wednesday’s crucial trip to a Dundee side two points above them.
“Zac has performed well recently, but he needs to take accountability for that,” said Cowie. “It’s not acceptable.
“You’ve got to keep your discipline despite the frustration that the game was getting away from us. You’ve still got to do it in the right manner. He’s let himself and his team-mates down because it now means he’s not available for Wednesday.”
Saints boss Simo Valakari praised his side for handling the pressure of a game they had to win to keep their survival hopes alive.
“When you get your last chance you need to deliver, and the boys did that today,” he said.
“We could all see the nervousness and there were a few dodgy moments when we didn’t do the right things. That’s totally understandable – my players are human beings.
“But I loved that they kept trying to do the right things under pressure and in the end it all came good. We’ve kept the fight going.”
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