Festive fixtures offer Ross County prime opportunity

Ross County’s season was beginning to head slightly downhill after an excellent start to the season, but it looks like the Christmas period could shine brightly on Jim McIntyre’s men.

The Staggies occupied a top-four berth in the early part of the campaign, but after a 2-0 win at home to Aberdeen, a tricky run of fixtures saw County face each side in the top six in a seven-game spell.

McIntyre saw his side defeated five times in the first six matches of that run, and County’s season threatened to lose all that early momentum.

However, a superb second half performance last weekend away at Hamilton saw the Highlands outfit claim a 3-1 and ended a run nearing on four months without success on the road.

County hadn’t won away in the league since a 4-0 success at Kilmarnock in August and McIntyre expressed the team’s satisfaction at ending the trend: “It was a great feeling to get that away win – that gets the monkey off of our backs.”

“After the slap in the face we took against St Johnstone the previous week when we lost 3-2 at home, we knew we had to bounce back quickly so that it didn’t turn into a bit of a rut,” he added.

The victory could now signal the start of a revival with a favourable fixture list on the horizon.

County’s next four games are all against sides in the bottom half, and McIntyre is keen to gain momentum: “It is important we build on the win. We have played all the teams above us twice now and I know other teams have a bit of catching up to do in that regard.”

The Staggies’ first test sees them head to Fir Hill to take on Partick Thistle.

The visitors are 13/8 with Ladbrokes for the three points, while a draw is 9/4 and a home victory is also 13/8.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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