MANAGER Stuart Kettlewell says Ross County’s top of the table clash at Hamilton Academical on Saturday will be their toughest test in League One so far this season.

The Staggies head to New Douglas Park having gone five points clear at the top following their 4-1 victory over Peterhead last weekend.

Meanwhile, Hamilton Academical fell to their first defeat in League One last season when they were hammered 4-0 by bottom of the table Cove Rangers in Aberdeen.

The two teams meet again three weeks after they shared the points in a 1-1 draw in Dingwall.

Kettlewell says it will be their toughest test in League One this season, but says the club have a good understanding of each other.

He said: “I think you can kind of look upon it that way. All the time we had to wait a while to play against each other, and then the fact that you play against each other twice in a couple of weeks, obviously you start to get a decent understanding, a decent opinion of each other.

“We probably had some frustrations here in the last game in terms of having opportunities, having a lot of control, having big moments, big opportunities.

“I thought some of the last-ditch defending from Hamilton was as good as I've seen this season. There was a lot of blocks and a lot of last-ditch defending.

“There were certain situations we felt we could have and have done better over the course of the season, but I think it would be remiss of me to think any other way that it's going to be a difficult task to go down to Hamilton's patch and go and get a victory.

“I would need to stress that that will absolutely be our mentality in the game.

“We find ourselves in good form, we find ourselves still scoring goals and winning games of football, so I don't think you can go down there with trepidation and fear.

“I think you have to go down there full of confidence, but also full of respect for the opposition who have had a really good start to the season as well.”

Kettlewell says having the opportunity to extend their advantage to eight points on Saturday after 15 games is a huge incentive.

But he also acknowledges there is still a lot of work to do having not even reach the halfway point of the season.

He said: "If you'd offered me a five-point lead right now, I'd have bitten your arm off or it, given where we've come from.

"The opportunity is there to extend the lead, but the flipside is Hamilton will be trying to get to within two points of us.

"Sometimes it can come down to goal difference. We have a far superior goal difference right now on everyone else in the league, which shows the levels we've been working towards.

"It's a big carrot for us on Saturday, but Hamilton will feel they can narrow the gap which has come about very quickly, over the course of a week.

"As quickly as that changed in our favour, it can change against us if we're not in the right place or not performing well.”