Ross County manager Malky Mackay isn’t pointing the finger of blame at Hibs after the second fixture call-off within five days resulted from the Edinburgh’s club’s Covid crisis.
Tonight’s rearranged Scottish Premiership match in Dingwall was postponed again last night on the back of Saturday’s cancellation due to positive Covid cases within the visitors’ camp.
Hibs confirmed “this decision was made after a significant number of first-team players, staff, and development squad players tested positive over the last few days.”
Two positive cases on Saturday soon reportedly spiraled out of control, with five senior players also thought to be injured.
Boss Jack Ross was set to delve into his under-18 squad to make up the numbers, but Hibs were unhappy at being asked to play the match so soon after the original date with their situation getting worse rather than better.
Further talks between Hibs and the SPFL finally led to their matches against County in midweek and away to Livingston this Saturday being postponed.
County had to forfeit two Premier Sports Cup matches in the summer after the virus struck deep within their squad and this resulted in 3-0 wins for Forfar Athletic and Dundee, effectively knocking the Staggies out of the competition.
The same rules don’t apply to league games and they are rescheduled to a later date.
Covid measures followed at County
Boss Mackay said that led by club secretary Fiona MacBean, the Dingwall side have ensured that all measures have been followed to minimise the chances of the bug hitting again.
Mackay feels sympathy for Hibs’ situation, stressing the health and safety is always the main concern.
He said: “At the start of the season, Covid ravaged our whole club.
“That’s why we quickly spoke to Public Health Scotland, Environmental Health, the Scottish FA and the government, and it was dealt with really quickly.
“The procedures were all already in place, and they signed it off immediately because of how well Fiona had everything in place.
“It’s a virus that is spreading through the world, so it wasn’t anyone’s fault and this isn’t anyone’s fault at Hibs that they’ve caught it.”
No issues flagged up at meeting
Despite the unfortunate nature of players and staff at Hibs testing positive, Mackay was surprised there was no word of any Covid cases were made known to them two days before Saturday’s fixture.
He added: “Your procedures are something that you should look at, and we had a pre-operations meeting on Thursdays with us and them and an SPFL delegate, so that’s something that I suppose might have come into the conversation. Any issues would be flagged up at the meeting, but there didn’t seem to be any.
“The safety of people is dealt with first, that’s the most important thing right now.
“I’m obviously frustrated that at the start of the season we end up having to forfeit two games, which means our club loses money from not going into the latter rounds of the League Cup.
“That’s a lifeline for our football club, so I’m frustrated that that was the case, but obviously this is a different competition and it’s a well-worn path with what happened last year with clubs and appeals, going to different bodies and stuff like that.
“That’s none of my concern, it’s just unfortunate that when it happened to us, that was the result from it.
“I’m not saying that that’s something I want to happen to anybody, it was just frustrating for us.”
County looking for second win
The Staggies were in confident mood going into the Hibs fixture, with last week’s rousing 5-0 rout of Dundee earning them their first win of the league season.
It was also the club’s biggest winning margin in the top-fight and pulled them to within one point of Dundee at the foot of the table.
Dundee responded at the weekend by winning 1-0 at St Mirren to reopen a four-point advantage.
The Leith club were set to face County on the back of four straight losses, against Rangers, Dundee United, Aberdeen and Celtic.
No County fans allowed at Ibrox
County supporters, meanwhile, have been dealt a fresh blow with the news that there is to be no away fans inside Ibrox on Sunday for their match against champions and leaders Rangers.
The outcome stems from County’s red zone requested being rejected.
A statement from the Dingwall club said: “Ahead of this weekend’s match with Rangers we can confirm there will be no away ticket allocation.
✍️ Rangers v Ross County Supporter Information
We can confirm there will be no away ticket allocation at Ibrox this weekend.
— Ross County FC (@RossCounty) November 2, 2021
“Due to our club still requiring a red zone to maintain safe social distancing and to best protect our squad, we have been informed by Rangers that they cannot provide an away allocation as they need to relocate their fans who ordinarily would have been seated in our red zone area.
“We know this will be frustrating for our supporters, as it is to our club that we cannot have you with us.
“At present, with a small number of our players yet to be double-vaccinated we feel it is essential to maintain a red zone to maintain the high standards we have set in handing COVID-19 over the last 18 months.”
