JAMIE Lindsay insists Ross County owe themselves a big performance in Saturday’s Highland derby – after failing to shine in the first two encounters this season.
The former Celtic midfielder played the full 90 minutes in September’s 0-0 draw in Dingwall where, if anything, underdogs Caley Thistle held the greater menace.
Then, in November, Lindsay netted the opener in an eventual 2-2 draw in Inverness where the hosts claimed County’s equaliser was off-side.
Lindsay, though, is adamant County could have won both matches had they played to their full potential.
The 23-year-old said: “I think we owe ourselves one against Inverness, even in our performance levels.
“We have played Caley Thistle twice now and not played as well as we should have.
“It’s a massive game this weekend, so we will get back to work after a wee Christmas break and prepare well for the derby on Saturday.
“The games are good to play in. The atmosphere is really good, especially the first time when the Inverness fans came here.
“We took a good support over there, but we have not really been able to enjoy it because we have not had the results.
“Hopefully we will put that right on Saturday.”
County’s 2-0 victory at home to Partick Thistle last weekend propelled County back to the top of the Ladbrokes Championship.
Ayr United still hold a game in hand – against Caley Thistle – but Lindsay is determined to make sure the Dingwall team remain top dogs come Saturday evening.
He said: “It’s obviously nice to be top. Everybody knows we let ourselves down up here in Dingwall against Queen of the South.
“They sat in and we had most of the ball, but we couldn’t get that second goal to kill it off and go top that day.
“In the game away to Ayr United, we went 1-0 up and found ourselves 3-1 down at half time, then showed great spirit to come back for a draw.
“Saturday was a great result and, luckily enough, Ayr dropped points to take us back to the top.
“We know every week is going to be different. It’s a hard league.
“Teams like Partick are down near the bottom fighting for their life. But we spoke about it in the dressing room after playing them – they are probably one of the best teams we have played.
“There was a big change in them from the first time we played them and it was just about digging in.
“We showed a bit of togetherness, better than we have done, and the clean sheet was massive after conceding three goals the previous week against Ayr.
“That will give the guys confidence going into the Caley Thistle match and it will be good to build on that.”
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