Manager Malky Mackay is urging Ross County to go for the jugular and attack Group D in the Viaplay Cup this season.
The Dingwall side’s Premiership season starts at champions Celtic next month, but they kick off their League Cup action away to League Two Stranraer on Saturday.
County then host Morton on July 22, before travelling to Edinburgh City on July 26 and then rounding off their group games against Kelty Hearts in Dingwall three days later.
Last term, three wins and a penalty shoot-out victory meant County collected 11 points out of 12 in their group, but they fell short of being seeded for the knock-out rounds, despite finishing top.
The result was a knockout tie against eventual treble-winners Celtic in the last-16, who won 4-1 at the Global Energy Stadium in a tie which was much tighter than the scoreline suggests.
In this season’s competition, Mackay is determined the Staggies, boosted by seven new signings, will do enough in their section to be rewarded with a winnable second-round clash.
Slip-up in last year’s group stage cost County their chance of Hampden
When asked whether coming first in the group is the minimum expectation for the second year running, the manager said: “It should be for the Premiership club.
“If I go way back to my first few weeks at the club, we talked about it then, but we were unfortunate with the whole Covid situation (forfeiting two games to be dumped out at the group stage).
“Last year my thought was definitely to make sure we got through to the next stages.
“Unfortunately, we won one of the games (against Buckie Thistle) on penalties, which didn’t give us enough points to be a seed, which meant we got drawn against the champions.
“If we did that properly and got through as one of the seeds, with a little bit of luck we could have been at Hampden for a semi-final.”
Best team to beat Stranraer
Starting in this term’s competition against fourth-tier Stranraer, managed by Scott Agnew, is a test for the Staggies.
A decade ago, County fell to a midweek 3-2 loss at Stair Park in the League Cup – a reminder what can happen if the players are not switched on.
Mackay said: “You can only deal with what’s in front of you, so that’s what we’ll be doing on Saturday.
“For the next few weeks, we’ll be going in to win every game, because I want us to top the group.
“That’s not in an arrogant way, but I’ll be putting my best team out to make sure we win these games.”
Stranraer from Dingwall is a five-hour-plus journey, so there will be plenty of time to kill for the County team, coaches and fans heading south this weekend.
Ex-Celtic defender Mackay reflected on his trips to Stair Park when he was an emerging player with Queen’s Park.
He said: “I’ve done the journey down there many a time.
“When I was young at Queen’s Park reserves, I would finish my job at the Bank of Scotland on an afternoon and get over to Hampden to get on the bus on a windy night to go and play Stranraer reserves down at Stranraer.
4 days to go 🗓
Scott Agnew sits down to discuss the new season at Stair Park as we gear up for Saturday's visit of Premiership side @RossCounty ⚽https://t.co/e5jDojOJoo
— Stranraer FC (@StranraerFC) July 11, 2023
“I would come back at 2am to go and get up again for work the following day.
“I have walked through that playground many a time on a cold, wet and bleak Monday night.
“You were wondering whether you’d ever be a footballer.”