Malky Mackay trusts hard work will get Ross County up and running in Premiership

Malky Mackay believes hard work on the training pitch can help Ross County end their winless run in the Premiership when they host Kilmarnock on Saturday.

The Staggies have started the league campaign with three defeats, the most recent of which was a 1-0 loss at St Mirren last week and they sit bottom of the table.

Boss Mackay spoke of “getting ourselves back on the horse again” with a “good” preparation this week for the game in Dingwall.

He said: “We were disappointed with our result at the weekend and we came in and had a good conversation about it.

“And what you do about these situations is get back on the grass again and train hard, knowing we have a tough game upcoming. That’s really how you do it.

“I have obviously been in this a long time and I have been through it and when you have a result (like last week) you obviously want to talk about it.

“You don’t want to sweep it under the carpet, you have a conversation and it’s making sure you get back out there and that’s the way you get back to performing again, keep practising and getting confidence every day.

“The players take the lead from myself but I am not looking at them and thinking they are a mile off. I haven’t since we came back in pre-season and that has shown in the games we have played.

“The first two games they were excellent, on Saturday it was a very tight game and we were not excellent and we didn’t perform to anywhere near the standard that we could.

“It is getting them back up to their standard and then their performances click in and results click in.”

Newly-promoted Kilmarnock were given a 5-0 mauling at Rugby Park by champions Celtic last week and have one point from their first three league fixtures.

However, Mackay recognises the good work done by Killie boss Derek McInnes and expects “nothing other than a really tough game”.

He said: “I was down at the Kilmarnock game and it was against Celtic so it always going to be a tough one.

“Kilmarnock have a really good manager who is a friend of mine, a guy I have known a long time who went to Kilmarnock and immediately got them promoted and in all respects they look a Premiership club.

“Derek will be trying to make them hard to beat and organised, which is what he is doing, so it will be a tough game for us.”