Stuart Kettlewell hopes Ross County’s Betfred Cup form can kick-start a good run in the Premiership.

The Staggies scored seven goals across their final two matches in Group D to take all six points and finish top of the table, netting four against Elgin and another three against Stirling to seal their place in the second round.

Any boost to confidence levels has been spread throughout the team, with six different scorers in those two games and only Oli Shaw finding the net on two separate occasions.

That is in stark contrast to County’s Premiership form, where they have only scored twice in their last six matches.

Kettlewell believes the last two cup fixtures have been valuable in building momentum ahead of next weekend’s trip to Kilmarnock in the league, and he hopes his players will benefit from it.

“We wanted to top the group but were disappointed to drop a point out of the 12,” explained Kettlewell, whose side required penalties to overcome Montrose earlier in the competition.

“We’ve rectified it since though, and we’re in a decent position.

“The goals have been massively encouraging. There’s been a good spread in the scorers and, with that, there’s confidence to be taken.

“We want guys getting that confidence level up and the likes of Regan Charles-Cook, Charlie Lakin, Harry Paton, Ross Stewart and Oli Shaw have all profited from it.”