Away form Cowie's challenge for Ross County

Don Cowie (centre) led Ross County clear of relegation after their play-off win

Don Cowie is eager to avoid a third relegation scare in a row at Ross County and has challenged the team to improve their away form.

Cowie has formally become County manager after his spell in interim charge yielded victory in the Scottish Premiership play-off against Raith Rovers.

It was the second season in a row that the Staggies finished second bottom in the top flight and found themselves battling against a top Championship side to stay up.

Cowie won six of his 17 games in charge last season, with five of those at home and only one point picked up on the road.

"The last two years, it's been really challenging and we've got to a stage where it's got really close in terms of retaining our status in the Premiership," Cowie told BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound.

"We understand the challenges. It's a very competitive league, very difficult. Probably this season, it's going to be even more competitive with Dundee United coming into the league.

"We showed in the last three months how good we can be, especially at home, but in terms of our away form, it's something that we really need to improve and be more difficult to beat on the road.

"First and foremost, as always, it's about trying to retain your status on the league and then, beyond that, teams year after year have shown what you can do when you can get it right in terms of breaking into that top six."

Family affair

Inverness native Cowie has appointed brother Paul to his backroom staff as first-team coach and performance analyst, as well as former defender Carl Tremarco as assistant manager and Scott Thomson as goalkeeping coach.

County open their season away to Stranraer in next Saturday's opening set of Scottish League Cup first-round group fixtures.

"He's been away from the country," Don said of Paul Cowie. "He was in Singapore for 10 years, he lived there. He's got the teaching background.

"When he came back to Scotland seven, eight years ago, he had real aspirations to get into football. In a very short space of time, he built up to become the academy director at Dundee United - an academy that's got a great reputation in our country.

"He had the aspiration to get into first-team football and I think he'll complement the staff that's existed at the club really well.

"There's four brothers - four boys in our family. I'm the youngest, Paul's the second oldest. As you can imagine, there was a lot of competition in the household, a real rivalry between us and that's what pushed us on to do what we've done in our lives and our careers. I'm delighted that he's come back to the area."