ROSS County manager Derek Adams has challenged his side to stay on the title track - even though his high fliers face a whopping eight games in 25 days.
Following on from Saturday's dramatic 1-1 William Hill Scottish Cup draw away to SPL side St Mirren, the Staggies hit the road this weekend to take on Raith Rovers in Kirkcaldy as they look to at least maintain their five-point lead at the top of Irn Bru Division One.
The result at Paisley last weekend means another match this month as St Mirren come calling on replay duty next Tuesday, forcing the already rescheduled Partick Thistle home league match on to March 6.
The eight games in 25 days begins on Saturday and the others are: Feb 14 St Mirren (home, Scottish Cup replay), Feb 18 Ayr United (home, league), Feb 21 Morton (home, league), Feb 25 Dundee (away, league), Feb 29 Ayr United (away, league), March 3 Queen of the South (home, league) and March 6 Partick Thistle (home, league).
Despite this hectic schedule, Adams has no problem with the Scottish Football League lining so many games up for County.
He said: "I see the SFL's point. They have to try and get these games played because they don't know if the weather is going to be good or bad in a little while.
"The big bonus for us is that five of these fixtures are at home, that's important to us. Being off the road for these games can only help us, in terms of our recovery times as well. The only problematic one is the trip to Ayr on the Wednesday night (February 29), although we are at home on the Saturday.
"The replay is not ideal, but players enjoy playing games. When we reached the Scottish Cup final two years ago, we had a lot of games postponed and we had replays to contend with and that was a difficult time for us. We still have 17 league games to go and we're already into February, so it's going to be a busy period for us."
Richard Brittain scored a penalty, but also missed a 93rd minute spot kick which would have won the tie at St Mirren.
Adams reflected: "We got the penalty with the last kick of the ball and, unfortunately, we missed it. Richard will get over the miss. It's a difficult one for him because it was so late in the game, but he practises every day. I've been there myself and you just get on with it.
"We've been very competitive in the First Division this season and it was important for us to maintain these good performances, even in the Scottish Cup. The players enjoyed going to New St Mirren Park. It was a great surface and a nice ground and good for them.
"It was a good performance from us, we dug in well, dominated possession and had more chances in the game. I think a lot of people enjoyed our performance. Tactically, we changed things around. It was important that we stopped them playing, but also we had players with pace to cause them problems, players such as Steven Craig and Mark Corcoran."
The Victoria Park boss insists the balance of power remains with the Buddies for the replay, but won't rule out taking another SPL scalp, following on from wins in recent years against St Mirren, Hibs, then SPL side Hamilton and, of course, Celtic.
He stressed: "I would say St Mirren are probably the favourites still because they are the SPL side, but we have a good home record and this is a good opportunity to go through, especially if we can repeat our performance from Saturday. That, of course, would kick up more hassle in terms of another league fixture being postponed, but we'll take that as it comes."
Of more immediate concern for Adams and his squad is the league trip to Starks Park this weekend and he admits the addition of Argentina forward Damian Casalinuovo and ex-Dunfermline hitman Pat Clark gives the Rovers more reason to be confident of ending the Staggies stunning 17-game unbeaten run.
He said: "John McGlynn (Raith boss) was at our game last week and he'll have seen how well we played and they'll be trying to stop us, but we'll see how we get on.
"Kirkcaldy is always a great ground to go to. We enjoy going there. They have a fabulous crowd behind the goal who try to almost suck the ball into the net, but we look forward to it.
"Raith have changed things around a wee bit. They have taken in Damian Casalinuovo and Pat Clarke and they also have John Baird, who has done very well and is scoring goals again. Allan Walker has scored one from a corner and one from 35 yards against us this season, so that's something we don't want to see again. He was at Livingston when I was there and he's a good player. They have several attacking options, but they are good defensively as well."
Adams said transfer window signing, defender David McNamee is now fit, but he may not make the squad this weekend because of the performances already there.
Marc Fitzpatrick is the only injured player to miss out this weekend.
