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 says Ross County will be ready to finish 1,000-mile week strong

Epic run of three quick away games ends at Easter Road for the Dingwall side seeking three precious points in Edinburgh.

Ross County manager Malky Mackay on the sidelines at Motherwell. Image: SNS
Ross County manager Malky Mackay on the sidelines at Motherwell. Image: SNS

Manager Malky Mackay insists Ross County will be ready rather than weary when they take on Hibs in Edinburgh on Tuesday night in the final leg of a 1,000-mile travel week.

Blowing 2-0 and 3-1 leads before drawing 3-3 at Motherwell on Saturday kept the Staggies 11th in the Premiership when a fast, flowing and clinical display looked to have them heading for the top-six.

In such a tight division, victory for County tomorrow against a Hibs team who drew 0-0 with leaders Celtic at the weekend would catapult them into fifth spot before the Wednesday fixtures. 

This is the third successive away match for Mackay’s men within seven days, following last Tuesday’s 0-0 draw at Dundee and then their journey to Fir Park.

However, the Staggies boss is urging his shell-shocked players to respond to the disappointment of failing to win at Well by standing up to the Hibees, who are just one point ahead, having played a match more.

He said: “We turn to Tuesday night, and we’ll need people physically and mentally ready for that.

“We’re travelling 1,000 miles between Dundee, Motherwell and Hibernian, but I can’t have hard-luck stories or anyone feeling sorry for themselves, so we have to be ready.

“Ross County are always a team people think will be fighting at the bottom of the division.

“That’s okay, because we’re a small-town club in the north of Scotland with a small stadium and a small budget.

“I’ve got a team that I know on any given day can take on anyone in the Premiership, and we have done in the last three years.

“I think the Old Firm are one set of teams, and then we can go toe-to-toe with the rest of them.

“We will continue to make it difficult for teams everywhere we go.

“We were outstanding on the ball to create chances at Motherwell, we just have to finish them.”

Boss Mackay has plenty in reserve

One of the key decisions Mackay made on Saturday was to replace Yan Dhanda with fellow midfielder Kyle Turner at the break.

Although Dhanda played well in the first half, Turner made a real impact, asked questions of Well and lined up Eamonn Brophy for his goal to make it 1-0.

Mackay said strength in depth is vital when games are so closely contested.

He said: “The fact that this year we’ve got a bench that can make a big difference is great, and that’s the consistency we didn’t show last year.

“I want people to not give me a choice of whether to pick them, so people coming on and being better than the one going off is what’s needed.”

County should have had interval lead

All six goals at Motherwell came in the second half, yet County had decent chances to have held the interval lead.

Mackay had mixed emotions after reflecting on a pulsating 90 minutes in North Lanarkshire.

He added: “We should have scored. It really gave us a lift and it quietened the crowd, which is really vociferous here at Motherwell.

“That’s testament to the way we played, but we have to take those chances.

“Eamonn Brophy and Ryan Leak should have scored, and then I thought – after the ones that did go in – we should have seen the game out.”

Just one loss so far for Montgomery

Hibs’ new manager Nick Mongomery is getting a decent return from his players since taking over at Easter Road.

His only defeat in his first seven games was a 4-0 loss against Rangers at Ibrox, with wins against St Mirren and St Johnstone and four draws making up his tally so far.

Second-bottom County, who are only below Aberdeen on goal difference, hold a five-point lead over rock-bottom St Johnstone, who sacked manager Steven MacLean on Sunday.

The Staggies return to Dingwall this Saturday when they host Celtic in a 12.30pm kick-off before going to St Johnstone one week later.

Conversation