ROSS COUNTY fans of a pessimistic notion will look at the Premiership table and note that their team lies just five points off bottom spot. Those with a more positive outlook, however, will also observe that the gap to that much-coveted sixth place is that same five points. Alex Schalk, unsurprisingly, is preferring to focus on the latter.

That County can remain in touch with the top half of the table despite winning only once in the league in 2017 – a maiden victory at Tynecastle on Wednesday night – shows how tight it is at the bottom. Realistically seven clubs are in the fight to claim the one place that will spare them from what could be a scrappy fight to avoid relegation after the split.

County’s recent results may have been poor but their performance against Hearts – as well as the calibre of player in the squad – ought to make them favourites to escape that late-season scramble. Schalk, goalscorer the other night having only just returned from his grandfather’s funeral in his native Netherlands, believes as much, too.

“We’ve got a good group of boys that have a good mentality,” said the forward. “We stick together when it’s going against us. We were unlucky the last couple weeks with the results. We’ve had deflected goals and last-minute goals against us. It shows our mentality to bounce back every time and finally we have three points.

“You need to do it and be positive in every game. We’ve got the ability to finish in the top six, there’s no doubt about that but then again, you need to show your capabilities. If you’re on a bad run, the confidence gets low but that happens to every team. This is a really good step forward for us and the next five to six games are all against teams that are competing of the top six.”

The frustration that spilled out from the home fans at Tynecastle the other night was not lost on Schalk either. “I noticed it in the first half, a wee bit of negative sounds from the stands. Their results in the last couple of weeks weren’t that good either. I think we took advantage of that but it’s easy to say that afterwards.

“It’s an amazing ground with great fans but you kind of sense it and try to use it against them. When I got subbed for example, you try to slow everything down. It’s just a feeling, and the fans will go nuts and go against their own team. You’re not thinking consciously to do it but you get that feeling during the game.”