Malky Mackay insists Ross County cannot bank on any sluggishness from Hearts in Sunday’s Victoria Park encounter.
The Jambos were in Europa Conference League action on Thursday, defeating Latvian outfit RFS 2-1 at home in a group stage tie.
A busy recent schedule, in flitting between European and domestic football, has stretched the squad options available to Hearts manager Robbie Neilson.
Mackay expects nothing other than a fast start from the Tynecastle club, and he is urging the same from the Staggies.
He said: “It’s not easy, having the Thursday game and then three or four days later playing again.
“Where some European clubs can change half the squad, I don’t think Hearts have got the ability to do that.
“Just speaking from afar, and also the travel that’s involved, with the logistics of warming up and down, rather than having training sessions.
“They have got to get people to their bed, and then come up to the Highlands.
“It does have a factor but that’s something we’ve got to park to one side. Come 3pm on Sunday we’ve got to come out of the traps flying, because I’m sure Robbie will have Hearts doing that.”
European stage brings different challenges
Hearts’ victory was not enough to keep them in contention for a place in the knock-out stage of the Conference League, with Fiorentina’s victory Istanbul Basaksehir ensuring they are no longer able to qualify.
The Jambos were competing in European group stage football for the first time in 18 years.
Mackay believes Neilson will have found it a valuable learning experience, adding: “You go into a different field altogether in Europe. Having dealt with it as a player, as well as with the Scottish national youth teams, we had experiences against as many European teams as we could get.
“We needed them to understand the differences of international football and European football.
“There is the pace of it, the cleverness of players, and how people get players booked, and the differences in refereeing. There are nuances to it all that some of these players are learning for the first time.
“There’s also the fact that the size of squads in Scotland doesn’t allow itself to really change from the Thursday to the Sunday, or the Wednesday to the Saturday. The travelling that’s involved in that absolutely does take its toll.”
Close encounters between two sides
County have run Hearts close in recent times, without managing to defeat them since the Edinburgh side returned to the top flight at the start of last season.
The sides shared three draws from four meetings last season, with Hearts defeating County 2-1 on the opening day of this term despite a strong showing from the Highlanders.
Mackay hopes to go one better this time around, and added: “Last season Hearts were a terrific team. Robbie has done great there.
“I felt we gave a really good account of ourselves in all the games against them, which I was delighted about.
“We looked as much of a threat as they did. I even bring it back to this year, on the opening day down at Tynecastle.
“If we were more clinical in the first half, it really would have become interesting. We could have gone in 2-0 up at half-time and it would have become a different game altogether.
“I know the strength of them, and how good they are.”
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