Ross County manager not underestimating challenge from Edinburgh City
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MANAGER Malky Mackay says Ross County can’t afford to take Edinburgh City for granted when they travel to the capital on Wednesday for their third Viaplay Cup group stage clash.
The Staggies have won both of their group games so far, beating Greenock Morton 2-1 on Saturday after their 5-1 demolition of Stranraer seven days previously.
Victory against Edinburgh City and against Kelty Hearts in Dingwall on Saturday will guarantee them progression and a good chance of being seeded in the last 16.
But Mackay is cautious of the danger Edinburgh City present, he says his team have to look at how they were taken to a penalty shoot-out by Buckie Thistle at the same stage last season to realise the hard work is not over yet.
Recalling their match with Buckie Thistle last season, he said: “ That was the one that denied us maximum points.
“I don’t think we could have drawn Celtic with maximum points. “We pulled Celtic in the next round and that kind of ends that.
“We’ve got to make sure we do everything to make sure we are clinical in front of goal in these games and don’t let anybody off the hook.
“We’ve never taken anyone lightly. We didn’t take Stranraer lightly. We didn’t take Nairn County lightly in our friendly.
“We’ll certainly not be taking Edinburgh City lightly.”
Mackay says he knows what to expect from Edinburgh City when the two teams meet on Wednesday night.
“Alan Maybury is a good friend of mine,” said Mackay.
“Edinburgh City have also played at Ainslie Park for a couple of years where Spartans play, and I was there quite regularly with my son playing for Spartans under-20s.
“I’ve been at a variety of Edinburgh City games over the past few years. They have now moved to this nice new complex at Meadowbank and Alan has done really well there.”
Mackay says defeating Morton was a massive boost going into the new season.
“To go into a really important game and get the win against a Championship team who were always going to test us, takes us into Wednesday nicely.
“We’ve got two games to go and our focus is purely on making sure we win both games and top the group.”
