Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Malky Mackay shares Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou’s drive in demanding best standards at Ross County

Ross County Mackay
Ross County manager Malky Mackay.

Ross County manager Malky Mackay insists he shares the same unrelenting drive for improvement that Ange Postecoglou has shown at Celtic.

County host the Premiership champions in their first home game of the league season on Saturday.

The Staggies are aiming to get off the mark following their opening 2-1 loss to Hearts at Tynecastle, while Celtic started with a 2-0 win over Aberdeen.

Following the Parkhead encounter, Postecoglou described his side as being wasteful and hinted they needed to show more focus in front of goal.

Celtic make the trip to Dingwall on the back of an impressive 33-match unbeaten league run which stretches back to September last year.

Although expectation levels are markedly different at both clubs, Mackay insists he will not stop demanding a higher standard from his players.

Mackay said: “At any club at the moment, you’re seeing a lot of new players. Clubs are bringing in new squads, people are getting thrown in and some will settle, others won’t.

“Clubs won’t really know who the opposition player is because they haven’t seen a lot on them.

Ange Postecoglou.

“There’s a lot of that going on through the league, and I don’t think that’s any different at Celtic.

“It’s like anything, we all take time to settle into the rhythm and the routine of the season, and no matter how smoothly your pre-season has gone with people getting to know each other and the manager’s thoughts, I can see why Ange was critical of his team.

“I was critical of mine, I’m sure every manager was. As a manager you are always looking for the next thing you can find in the team to make better.

“There’s a relentless nature to trying to be better. People can say a team was terrific, but if you’re the manager you will be saying you need to do this or that better. It’s the nature of it.”

Hoops’ capture of O’Riley highlights wise recruitment

Among Celtic’s standout performers in their victory over the Dons was midfielder Matt O’Riley, whose corner set up Stephen Welsh’s opening goal.

Matt O’Riley.

The 21-year-old has been a highly successful addition following his reported £1.5 million move from MK Dons in January.

Mackay is well aware of the English market, having managed Watford, Cardiff City and Wigan Athletic.

The bulk of Mackay’s additions since taking over at Victoria Park last summer have come from south of the border.

The Staggies boss insists the Hoops’ capture of O’Riley is a shining example of thorough recruitment  paying off.

He added: “He is one of those diamonds you talk about finding.

“Matt O’Riley is of the sort we used to talk about, certainly at my first club Watford.

“We had very little money and it was a club teetering on the brink of administration.

“The club had a Category One academy, so my remit was to bring through academy prospects. We also brought in X-factor loan players – which at the time we could, we ended up with 15 over two years and I think 10 of them have gone on to become England internationals.

“We would also go and find lower league diamonds.

“They are not easy to get, and right now even less so because the world is looking for Jamie Vardy.

Jamie Vardy.

“We almost got Vardy, it was ourselves and Leicester who bid for him as a non-league player at Fleetwood.

“The fact that they’ve gone and found Matt O’Riley is a fantastic piece of business, because I think he’s a wonderful young player.

“It’s a credit to Ange and the football club’s tentacles to make sure that they get one like that as well as opposed to paying big money for everybody.”

Conversation