Malky Mackay insists Ross County will be a tougher nut to crack when Aberdeen come calling in the Viaplay Cup quarter-final on Wednesday.
The Staggies manager was disappointed in how his team fell to a 4-0 defeat at Pittodrie on Sunday in the Scottish Premiership.
Goals from Bojan Miovski and Duk had the Dons 2-0 and well on the way to their first league win of the season.
However, the visitors’ chances of getting back into the contest were dashed by further goals early in the second half by Jamie McGrath and another from Miovski.
It was an off-colour County performance which meant they finished the weekend in seventh spot.
‘Chance to redeem ourselves’
It’s clearly a quick turnaround, but Mackay says slicing down mistakes against an energetic Dons side is the first area of improvement.
He said: “We have just been heavily beaten by Aberdeen, so you move your mindset. We came into that game clearly confidently – we have to ensure this is a completely different game.
“It really is a chance to redeem yourselves. We have got to show the best versions of ourselves.
“We have done a lot of work on them, and they have done a lot of work on us, having just played on Sunday. There is not much difference in terms of surprises we will see.
“We have to just do what we do better than we did and try to negate the strengths of Aberdeen.
“If you go out and do the same, you will get the same.
“Aberdeen are a good team who are high on confidence after Sunday. It’s one of those bizarre situations where you play the same opponents twice within four days. We all know one another.
“For us, it’s about making sure those individual errors are reduced and, if we do that, then I am hoping it will be a much closer game.”
Boss set for Dingwall under the lights
County, who are working on penalties in case the tie goes the distance in midweek, hope home advantage on home turf will bring out their best performance.
Prior to Sunday, Mackay’s head-to-head over his two years as the County manager was level at one victory apiece and four draws.
He’s eagerly anticipating the chance of a special night at the Global Energy Stadium.
He added: “I obviously love playing here – especially under the lights, it’s always great.
“It’s a quarter-final of a cup, which is brilliant, and the carrot is reaching Hampden.
“Saying that, we were heavily beaten, but I enjoy going over to Pittodrie too. It’s a great crowd and the pitch was beautiful, and in the first 20 minutes or half an hour I thought we were excellent.
“We weren’t overawed by that, but we’ll enjoy being back at our home stadium with Aberdeen coming to visit us instead.”
*** Ross County’s Premiership match away to Hibernian has been brought forward by 24 hours to Tuesday, October 31, with a 7.45pm start, at the request of both clubs.
Our away fixture against @HibernianFC, originally scheduled for Wednesday 1st November, has been brought forward to Tuesday 31st October at the request of both clubs.
Kick-off will remain at 7:45PM. pic.twitter.com/MDnBtaBbNM
— Ross County FC (@RossCounty) September 25, 2023