Mackay has had a difficult first pre-season in Dingwall.

Ross County manager Malky Mackay could not have asked for any more engagement from his players in his way of working ahead of their cinch Premiership opener. Mackay has had a difficult first pre-season in Dingwall with two Premier Sports Cup games forfeited following a Covid-19 outbreak, leading to an early exit from the competition.

A mass exodus of players coincided with his arrival after John Hughes kept County in the top flight in the final game of his short-term reign. The first-team squad remains 10 players lighter with the Covid issues having a knock-on effect in the recruitment drive, but Mackay feels his men could not have bought into his ideas any better.

Speaking ahead of the visit of St Johnstone, Mackay told RCFCTV: "There's been a big transition at the club. Fifteen players have left so that's a huge amount to leave a club in one summer. "We have got a small group here, we have brought a few in and there will be more to come in, and we have three or four really young kids who are training with the first team now who will eventually be moving out on loan. "But they have really embraced how I want to train, the timings, how things are set out, the intensity, the rest periods. I am explaining why we do things. "They have thrown themselves into everything."