Ross County manager Malky Mackay insists Hibernian’s Hampden Park heroics have taught him nothing new ahead of Wednesday’s Dingwall encounter.
Hibs ran out 3-1 winners in their Premier Sports Cup semi-final against Rangers on Sunday, with Martin Boyle’s first-half hat-trick setting up a showdown with Celtic next month.
The impressive result followed a run of four straight defeats for Jack Ross’ men, who will now make the quick turnaround for their trip to Victoria Park.
Mackay says the Edinburgh side’s display came as no surprise to him.
He said: “It was interesting – people were hyping up four defeats in a row for Hibs when they were supposed to come up here before.
“But I know the manager and I know the quality of player they have. I know the challenge we have to achieve to make sure we match that.
“They are a formidable opposition coming up here to play us and I wasn’t buying into four defeats in a row coming up to play us as holding any kind of significance.
“I’m certainly not buying into anything that comes up off the back of Sunday’s semi-final, either.”
Staggies have come far since early weeks of campaign
Mackay, who drafted in 12 players during the summer, feels his side have come a long way since then despite the fact they sit four points adrift at the foot of the Premiership.
He added: “I’d say we are in a different place than we were at Easter Road when we played them the first time around – we have a slightly different team.
“We’ve got a group of people who know each other a lot better.
“It was the one half of football where I didn’t feel we did ourselves justice.
“Most of the time since, we’ve been excellent.
“We’re a different team now than we were then, and that’s nothing against how Hibs played against us.”
Attacker Boyle has been a standout performer for Hibs, with Sunday’s treble taking him on to 14 goals for the campaign.
Despite hailing from Aberdeen Boyle opted to play for Australia, where his father was born, in 2018.
Mackay, who previously worked as performance director at the Scottish FA, says Boyle was under consideration to play for the Scots.
He added: “It was just one of those where he was too far down the line with someone else.
“He was certainly one of the ones on our radar, along with a little group at the time.
“Mostly they were under 21 and Martin wasn’t, so it sat slightly outside my remit.
“There were three or four we were trying to target to be involved with Scotland and Martin was flagged up, but that then steps across to the manager. Che Adams was one of them.
“You look now at Martin and he was terrific again in the semi-final against Rangers. He is a quality player.
“I know his wife Rachael who plays for the Scottish women’s international team – so we did get one of the Boyles.”
