No time to panic for Adams
Ross County manager Derek Adams is refusing to panic over his side's start to the season as he targets launching themselves up the table this weekend.
County are the only team to have lost all three games so far, although they remain 11 points above administration-hit Hearts.
The Dingwall club, who have conceded nine goals in defeats to Celtic, Partick Thistle and St Johnstone, host a St Mirren side who are only one point better off.
And Adams is looking to leapfrog the Buddies as well as other teams in the Scottish Premiership.
"The majority of the teams have had a slow start," he said.
"If we can win this weekend, we take a lot more teams into the bottom half of the table.
"We can possibly catch four teams this weekend.
"If you can beat teams round about you then that's certainly going to help.
"We are looking to get our season going and heading in the right direction.
"There are a lot of teams looking to get their first win of the season - Kilmarnock, Dundee United, Hibernian and St Mirren."
Last season's meetings between the sides proved highly unpredictable with Saints edging a nine-goal thriller early in the season and County winning 4-1 in Paisley following a goalless draw in Dingwall.
Adams said: "From our point of view we are going to try to attack and when we have to defend, we have to defend better than we have in the previous games.
"We've got a good squad here and good competition for places. There is the opportunity to change things about but we would like to get a team that's going to be stable for the coming weeks as soon as possible.
"But we need to start picking up points."
Meanwhile, St Mirren skipper Jim Goodwin admits he was "slightly embarrassed" by his own reaction to last week's tussle with Kilmarnock striker Kris Boyd.
Boyd has been banned for two matches after picking up a straight red card for lashing out at Goodwin during the 1-1 draw in Paisley.
Goodwin concedes his own response may have been a tad over the top after watching the incident again on television, but claims there are no hard feelings as far as he is concerned following the clash.
He said: "I was slightly embarrassed when I watched it back on Sportscene on Sunday night.
"It's always a really difficult battle with Kris Boyd. He's a terrific player and I've got a lot of respect for him as a footballer. His goalscoring record is phenomenal.
"It was just a heat of the moment thing and I think it's fair to say, from his point of view, it was a silly reaction [from him].
"But I've been there myself and I'm not one who should be pointing the finger at people for making stupid decisions.
"In the heat of the moment, I've done that kind of thing myself. I know he regretted it, he probably regretted it instantly.
"He's a big, big player for Kilmarnock and he's going to be missing for some games now."
Saints now prepare to travel to Dingwall to face a County side who are smarting from last week's 4-0 thrashing against St Johnstone and who are also still seeking their first win of the season.
Goodwin said: "Ross County are struggling a wee bit just now and they'll be trying to make amends for that bad result at the weekend.
"We always expect a difficult game up in Dingwall and I can imagine what Derek Adams has been saying to his players all week and I can imagine the work they've been putting in on the training ground.
"It was an embarrassing defeat away to St Johnstone and it's something they will want to put right.
"They've added a number of new faces from the team last year and sometimes it takes time for new players to fit into the system and get used to the manager's ideas and get used to their new team-mates.
"I hope they don't click into place this weekend, that's for sure."
Jon Robertson remains on the sidelines. Robertson suffered a thigh strain during the warm-up for last week's draw against Kilmarnock.
Saints boss Danny Lennon has no fresh injury concerns ahead of the visit to the Highlands, while David van Zanten returns from suspension.
Source: PA
