Highlands & Islands

• Ross County have lost their last nine meetings with Celtic in all competitions, their longest ever losing run against the Hoops.

• Celtic have won their last five visits to Ross County in all competitions and are looking to win six such visits in a row for the first time.

• Ross County are winless in six Scottish Premiership matches (D4 L2), drawing their last three in a row. At home, the Staggies haven’t won since their first home league game of the season against St Johnstone in August (P3 D1 L2 since).

• Celtic have accrued 16 points from a possible 18 away from home in the league this season (W5 D1 L0), their most from their opening six away games of a league season since 2017-18 (18).

• Celtic’s Brendan Rodgers has never lost as a manager to Ross County’s Malky Mackay in five previous meetings (W3 D2), although this will be only his second against him away from home, after a 3-2 win over Mackay’s Watford with Swansea City in the English Championship in September 2010.

After three successive away draws, Malky Mackay’s Ross County return home to face Celtic on Saturday.

Can the Staggies spring an upset against the league leaders? Choose your County XI for the task here.

Victor Loturi is desperate to be part of a World Cup on home soil when Canada co-host the event in 2026.

"That’s probably my biggest motivation right now," the Ross County midfielder told Sky Sports. "Especially at home, for me and my family and friends, that would be huge."

The 22-year-old from Calgary won his first cap as a second-half substitute in July's 4-2 win over Cuba in the Gold Cup.

Loturi scored his first County goal in last weekend's 3-3 draw at Motherwell, having made the move to Dingwall in the summer of 2022.

Now he is planning to put on a good show at home to Celtic on Saturday to enhance his international chances.

"These are the games you want to play in to show you can play at that level," he said. "Hopefully, I can show everybody why I should be in the squad.

"Celtic are a brilliant team, they keep the ball so well. For us it’s about being patient out of possession and hopefully we can hurt them on transitions. We need to sit in but at times you need to be aggressive and go at them as well."

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Ross County manager Malky Mackay wants his side to be "calm and patient" when they face off against league leaders Celtic on Saturday.

The Dingwall side have lost their last nine games against the champions, but Mackay is relishing the challenge of facing Brendan Rodgers' side.

“Obviously a tough game coming up, playing against the champions, but one we’re looking forward to," he said.

“You’ve got to have belief in yourself to start with, in terms of having the ability to hurt the opposition.

"You play the Old Firm, you have to be as calm as you can be on the ball; there will be parts of the game where you might not see the ball, and you have to be calm and patient out of possession, that’s one of the keys.

“We’ve got to keep chipping away. There’s a lot of teams with not many points between them so we’ve got to keep doing everything to punch above our weight and climb the table as much as possible.”

Image source, SNS

Ross County manager Malky Mackay has been talking to the media before his side's Scottish Premiership clash with Celtic on Saturday.

Here are the key points from his press conference:

• He is looking forward to the challenge of going up against the league leaders, and spoke about how his players must "have belief" going into the game.

• Praised his side's performance over their last three games, drawing all three on the road. "We came away with a point from Dundee, should have won at Fir Park and then go to Easter Road, and performed really well, worthy of a draw on the night."

• Spoke positively about the different options he has up front, with Eamonn Brophy, Alex Samuel, Jordan White and Simon Murray. Says they have "looked a threat" all season. "For us to be able to score and have different scorers on the pitch makes a difference."

• With the league table so congested - just four points seperate fourth and 11th - Mackay highlighted the importance of consistently picking up points. "We've got to keep chipping away and climb the table as much as possible."

Image source, SNS

We asked for your views on Ross County's 2-2 draw against Hibernian at Easter Road...

Les: Three away games on the bounce without getting beat is a good sign. Celtic next up on Saturday. Another point would be brilliant.

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Malky Mackay's "bold substitutions" were the key to Ross County's stunning comeback against Hibs, says Sportsound pundit Michael Stewart.

Attacking midfielder Yan Dhanda replaced Kyle Turner just after the hour and had a major role in both goals, with the latter netted by fellow sub Jordan White as the Staggies fought back from two down for a point.

"Over the piece a draw is a fair result, for Ross County it’s a massive turnaround, they’ll be absolutely delighted with that," said Stewart.

"Malky Mackay deserves a lot of credit because he made bold substitutions to try to get themselves back into the game and it clearly worked.

"The quality from Dhanda was a real threat and a weapon. It caused Hibs all sorts of problems and Jordan White came on and scored a fantastic goal.

"All of those substitutes that they put on at 2-0 down were clearly with the emphasis on believing that they could get something out of the game.

"You can understand why as the first half was very even, they’ve ended up 2-0 down but you can still sense there was something there for them."

Former St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson also hailed Dhanda's game-changing impact.

"All credit to Mackay for making the changes, he’s gone for attack and tried to get back into the game and it worked for him," Davidson said.

"For me, Dhanda was the main reason Ross County got a point. With that quality, he was the one that ultimately pulled County back into the game."

County fans, did you make the long trip south to watch your side come from two goals down, or were you following along from home?

Either way, we want your thoughts on the game. Have your say here.

Ross County manager Malky Mackay on Sportsound:

"I thought the players were really brave. To come down to Easter Road, pass the ball the way we did, score the goals we did, disappointed we didn't win.

"I thought we were terriffic. When I look at it, we have done a lot of work in a week. There were various changes throughout the week and at the end of it I have got to be happy with the way my players have worked.

"Yan [Dhanda's] delivery has been excellent since the day he arrived at the club."

When asked if his side should have had a penalty for a potential Paul Hanlon handball, Mackay said: "Yeah absolutely.

"For the fans to come down from Dingwall on a Tuesday night and then get back in their cars to drive north, I have got to be thankful and I am delighted for them to see players fighting for the jersey.

"The games come thick and fast but what I know is that my team are the equal of any team in this league apart from the big two."

Image source, SNS

Nick McPheat, BBC Sport Scotland

A soft underbelly has been a constant criticism of this Hibs side, who have now lost four points from winning positions this term.

Coming back from two down at Tynecastle in the Edinburgh derby earlier this month perhaps pointed to a shift in mentality, but results like this highlight the mountain of work Montgomery still has to get through.

Granted, it is still very early days in his reign and he can get his tenure back on track with a semi-final victory on Saturday, but the jury is still out on the Hibs boss' 4-4-2 formation.

With attacking wingers deployed either side of a two-man midfield, the Easter Road side struggle to get a grip of games for sustained periods.

Montgomery has also given himself a big decision to make in the goalkeeping position after dropping David Marshall to hand a start to Jojo Wollacott, who showed superb ability with his feet and made two top saves late on from headers by Ryan Leak and Will Nightingale.

For County, it is another point further clear from the foot of the table - but if Malky Mackay's side can tighten up their defensive duties, their midfield and attack is capable of driving this team towards the top half.

In the past three days alone, White, Simon Murray and Eamonn Brophy have shown they can find the net, while Dhanda, Kyle Turner and Victor Loturi continue to impress in midfield.

Malky Mackay makes two changes to the Ross County team that played out a remarkable 3-3 draw away to Motherwell at the weekend.

Ben Purrington starts at left-back ahead of George Harmon and Kyle Turner comes in for Yan Dhanda who drops to the bench.

Will Nightingale is named as a substitute after missing the last two matches, but Josh Reid, Ross Callachan and Ben Paton all remain out.

• Listen to match commentary & follow live text coverage from Easter Road

Image source, SNS/BBC

• Hibs are winless in two league meetings with Ross County (D1 L1), last going three without a win against the Staggies in the Scottish Premiership in December 2019.

• Ross County won this fixture last season 2-0; never before have the Staggies won back-to-back Scottish Premiership visits to Hibs.

• Hibs have drawn four of their last six matches in the Premiership, which is as many draws as they managed in their previous 20 games. Only Dundee (5) have drawn more matches than Hibs (4) this season.

• Since winning two of their first four league matches this season, Ross County have failed to win any of their next five (D3 L2).

• The top two players for both dribbles attempted and dribbles completed in the Premiership this season are Hibs players, with Élie Youan attempting 55 and completing 25 and Martin Boyle attempting 49 and completing 26 respectively.