Malky Mackay won’t accept excuses as Ross County hit the road again

Malky Mackay insists there is no time for his Ross County squad to feel sorry for themselves as they prepare for a third away game in a week when they take on Hibernian at Easter Road.

The Staggies were pegged back from 3-1 up and had to settle for a share of the spoils against Motherwell on Saturday – their second successive Scottish Premiership point on the road having drawn 0-0 against Dundee in midweek.

Mackay believes it is a testament to his team that they came away from two tricky venues disappointed at only picking up two points, and he is now hoping for another positive performance at Easter Road.

“I can’t have hard luck stories or people feeling sorry for themselves, it’s this league and you’ve got to make sure you get yourself ready,” Mackay said.

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

“The overarching message is I need people mentally and physically ready for Tuesday night.”

A mixture of postponements coupled with the international break has caused a fixture pile-up for County.

It has forced Mackay’s side to clock up the miles in the past week and they will conclude a busy spell by hosting Celtic following their trip to the capital.

“We’ve obviously got the St Mirren game and the Dundee game that were both cancelled, so we are fitting them in midweek alongside the scheduled midweek we have against Hibs,” Mackay added.

“The games are thick and fast and I think my best friend is that seat on the bus at the moment.

“We’ve got about a thousand miles between Dundee, Motherwell and Hibs on Tuesday night – but we recovery properly and get ourselves ready to go again.”

The decision to replace Yan Dhanda with Kyle Turner at half-time against Motherwell came as a surprise to many, though it was a move that paid dividends as he played an important role.

Mackay is pleased at the depth within his squad and feels that is where they are a much different proposition to last season.

“That’s what everyone is there for, the fact we’ve got a bench that can make a difference and that’s the big thing I’ve talked about regularly,” he said.

“I want people to go and not give me the jersey back – and that was the consistency we didn’t show last year.

“People that are coming on the pitch being as good if not better than what comes off the pitch is what’s needed and that’s going to help us.”