Ford takes his team to Rome for a Wooden Spoon decider with Italy on Saturday on the back of a comprehensive defeat to Ireland after a similar result in Cardiff and two narrow losses at home to England and France.

But despite six defeats in six games since the win over Georgia at the Rugby World Cup, Ford is convinced that Scotland are on the right path.

"The feeling is we can see what we are trying to do. We can see what our style of play can create," said Ford.

"We've had opportunities when we could've won two out of the four games, but as it is we're going to Rome and we need to get this win.

"We know results aren't ideal and we're not in the position we wanted to be, but this is the last game of this championship so we've got to make sure all the hard work we've put in over the past eight weeks comes to something on Saturday.

"It's not ideal, but I've got a lot of experienced boys around me and the squad are tight.

"It's all in our hands. We've got the game to beat Italy."

After promising performances against both the English and French, last week's reverse in Dublin was a different kettle of fish for Ford, however.

The 2009 Lions hooker admitted that the Scottish showing at the Aviva Stadium simply wasn't good enough.

The slip in standards infuriated Ford but he insists Scotland must focus on bouncing back rather than feeling sorry for themselves or burying their heads in the sand.

"After the Ireland game I was raging with the performance," added Ford.

"Everybody was. It was ******* annoying.

"That was the worst I have felt in a game for a long time. I thought we had passed that. I thought we had gone beyond dropping our level so much.

"I don't single boys out. Yes, I see individual errors, but I was offside on Saturday, something I have not done for a long time and I am not proud of doing that. I just sat down and expressed to the players it was an unacceptable performance.

"You do take it personally because you are the leader of the team, but I can't feel sorry for myself for too long. It is up to me to ensure the team is geed up and ready to go.

"We have a week to turn it around. We have another opportunity. We cannot walk about with our bottom lips sticking out. We have to pick ourselves up."