Malky Mackay keen to add to Ross County squad before start of Premiership season
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Ross County manager Malky Mackay was insistent that his summer rebuild in Dingwall was far from over after a 5–0 victory in pre-season against Elgin City.
The Staggies featured two new recruits in their squad, with Ross Callachan starting and Dominic Samuel coming on, and both scoring.
County’s first League Cup group match is slated for this Saturday, and Mackay was adamant more new signings would be needed to allow his side to compete in the season ahead.
“We’ve got no bench,” Mackay, who was appointed in May, admitted.
“We had a few kids on the bench, so there has to be another group of players coming in.
“At the moment we don’t have enough to play a season in the Premiership, so there needs to be a few more coming in to add to what we’ve got.
“Obviously we’ll keep looking at that. We got Jake Vokins in from Southampton, who’s going to be ready for next week, so that’s another one for us.
“We had Dominic Samuel and Ross Callachan on the scoresheet, so I’m delighted with them, but undoubtedly we need more coming in.
“The transfer window closes at the end of August, so there are six or seven weeks for something to happens, and in England a lot happens later on. It’s something we’ll keep working on.”
The win at Borough Briggs last Saturday was County’s first friendly to build up to competitive games.
There were some encouraging signs considering the squad has only been back in full training for two weeks, with Callachan hitting the ground running and Jordan White and Oli Shaw linking up well as an attacking tandem.
Games will come thick and fast in the next few weeks though, with the current size of the squad making rotation difficult.
So with numbers so tight, Mackay has no plans to squeeze another game in this week before heading to Forfar Athletic for competitive action on Saturday.
“I don’t want another one, because we haven’t got enough players for that,” he reasoned.
“If we had 25 or 30 players, we would need more games than we’ve had at the moment, but we’re two weeks in and we’ve got to be very careful.
“We’ve got League Cup games to keep bleeding more players in, and that’s kind of how it will have to go for us.
“The League Cup is going to have to be something that we involve players in as we go forward.”
