After avoiding a potential thrashing at Celtic on Saturday, Motherwell head to Dingwall with points firmly on the agenda. Even at this early stage of the season the clash with Ross County looks significant.
No one in the support will be questioning Stevie Hammell any time soon but the fact remains one point from the last 12 puts the manager under scrutiny. And with County five points below us in 10th, a win will re-establish our comfortable gap to the relegation fight while a loss will set nerves rattling.
A fine example of a defensive wall
Hammell has undoubtedly improved the aesthetic football on show but the age old problem of scoring goals remains. Saturday's gift has firmly placed 'own goal' as second in our scoring charts with Kevin van Veen the only player offering even a semi-regular threat.
Defensively our choice seems to have been made with Paul McGinn and Matt Penney flanking SSJ and Rickie Lamie but the midfield is clearly missing Callum Slattery - we wish him well with his undisclosed personal issue but a return sooner rather than later would definitely help the team.
Sean Goss will surely keep his spot in midfield but the other member of the central trio and the two support players for Van Veen is more up for debate.
County made a similarly poor start to last season before stabilising and then challenging us in the top six. They will hope for a repeat but with just one victory in eight this season they have even less margin for error than us.
A tight contest can be expected but a 2-1 win will send the hardy souls heading to Dingwall home happy.