But by that point it was already too late, with Curran claiming "bad presences" in the Victoria Park dressing room were to blame as the Staggies slid towards the Championship.

The outlook does not look any brighter this term, with new club Dundee six points adrift at the bottom with just four games to play.

But Curran reckons the unity in the Dens camp can see them pull off the most remarkable of escape acts.

He said: "Our situation is on my mind every day – we care, I care, the lads care.

"When I hear people questioning if we've thrown the towel in it angers me, because I see what everyone is doing out there and how they are after games.

"I was relegated with County last year and don't want to suffer it again. I'd pay a lot of money to ensure we don't go down.

"You can't describe days like last year when we were relegated. You can talk about it but you can't describe that feeling. It's not nice.

"Had Fergie and Kets got the job earlier I think we would have stayed up. The couple of months before they took charge you could feel there were some bad presences in the team and the dressing room.

"But it's not like that here. I look round the lads here and I don't get that same dark feeling.

"We're not winning games though, so we need to use that spirit we have to make sure we do kick on."

Jim McIntyre's squad will have to arrest a run of eight straight defeats if they are to get back on track against Motherwell when they travel to Fir Park this weekend.

But despite their miserable form, Curran has no doubt his team are still in with a shout of survival.

He said: "I'm 100 per cent sure that we're not (resigned to our fate). Are we doing good enough right now? Absolutely not – but we're not hiding away from it.

"But we're still scraping. No-one's chucked it.

"We know we need to give the fans something to cheer about but the towel definitely hasn't been thrown in.

"Absolutely one million per cent I believe we can reach safety but we need to be better.

"Being an offensive player, we – and I include myself in this – need to do better in the final third. Starting Saturday against Motherwell, we need to start putting the chances we have been creating away and take the pressure off the boys."

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