ROBBIE NEILSON admits Ross County remain firmly in the driving seat in the race for the Ladbrokes Championship title despite Dundee United's midweek triumph. But the Tangerines boss believes his team can turn up the heat on the leaders if they avoid hitting the skids against Alloa today.

United steered themselves back into title contention as Calum Butcher's strike was enough to seal a narrow 1-0 win over their Dingwall rivals on Tuesday.

Now with the Staggies on Irn-Bru Cup final duty this weekend, United have the chance to cut their lead at the top to five points when they host Jim Goodwin's team.

That advantage could be trimmed even further on Tuesday when Neilson's men travel to Dunfermline, with County not due to return to league action until next weekend. And Neilson has urged his side to put their foot down when they take on the Wasps.

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He said: "Ross County are still in the driving seat. We can only look after ourselves so we must make sure we keep picking up points and put some pressure on them.

"We're delighted with the win in midweek but it's put to bed now. We need to focus on Alloa, it's another big game. We need to get the three points and take advantage of the fact Ross County aren't playing.

"Ultimately it will come down to them losing games but we have to make sure we put them under as much pressure as we can.

"It would be huge if we can get the gap down as close as we can. We've got another chance to do that again on Tuesday but we have to take care of this one against Alloa first."