ROSS County defender Jason Naismith admits the Staggies’ alarm bells were ringing even before Kilmarnock sent out a five-goal weekend warning.
Steve Clarke’s side gave another brutal demonstration of their soaring confidence with their 5-1 drubbing of basement boys Partick Thistle on Saturday.
The result will have sent a shiver down the backs of Owen Coyle’s County side, who sit just four points above the Jags, ahead of their Dingwall showdown on tonight.
But Naismith says the Staggies camp were already on red alert to the danger they face.
He said: “We need to make sure we are right up for this game on Tuesday as Kilmarnock are flying. They are the form team in the league.
“They got a great result on Saturday so that’s a warning sign.
“But there are warning signs there every day for us. We’re second bottom of the league and that’s not good enough.
“We have two massive games this week with Hamilton to come on Saturday as well and both are like cup finals even at this stage in the season. We need to get the points and get fired up the table.”
County looked set to claim a huge result at Ibrox on Saturday when Craig Curran fired them into an early lead against Rangers.
But they were unable to hold on to the points as Gers battled back for a 2-1 win.
Naismith, though, was pleased with the way his side pushed the Govan outfit, having also put on gritty displays against Celtic and Hearts in recent weeks.
However, he warned his side they cannot afford to switch off like they did against Dundee last week.
“We need to be in people’s faces,” said the former St Mirren right-back.
“That’s the frustration. We showed some great application pushing Celtic close a couple of weeks back and then again with the draw at Hearts. However, we then came right off it against Dundee.
“We obviously didn’t approach it the right way.”
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