The Lowdown
Ross County are the visitors for our first home game of the 2021/22 cinch Premiership.
It's our second match in the space of three days following our 1-1 draw with HNK Rijeka in the UEFA Europa Conference League on Thursday night at Easter Road.
We are hoping to make it back-to-back wins in the league having won 3-2 at Motherwell on opening weekend in a thrilling game which saw Martin Boyle score the winner with a second-half penalty.
Last season we won our home opener 2-1 against Kilmarnock with Boyle also scoring both goals in the first half and we'll face Killie again on Sunday August 15 in the second round of the Scottish League Cup.
Before that we fly to Croatia for the second-leg of our Europa Conference League tie with Rijeka with either Bohemians (Ireland) or PAOK (Greece) awaiting in the playoff – that’s one round away from the group stage.
Team News
Jack Ross made one change against Rijeka from our dramatic win at Motherwell with Jake Doyle-Hayes replacing Alex Gogic. JDH rewarded that selection with a man-of-the-match performance.
The Hibs manager has no new injury headaches and could field the same XI that started at Easter Road on Thursday.
Chris Cadden, Melker Hallberg and Sean Mackie are our only long-term absentees.
Christian Doidge is back to full fitness, having recovered from Covid 19, and Scott Allan has also returned from a minor knock sustained in the 3-0 Europa Conference League first leg victory over Santa Coloma. Both started came off the bench against Rijeka.
Josh Doig is also available for selection having been left out of the Motherwell squad to focus on a move away from the club. Ross revealed he is "highly likely" to leave, but with no deal done, and with Josh a model professional, he is available to be part of the Ross County squad.
The Visitors
Ross County finished 10th in last season's Premiership under ex-Hibs defender and manager John Hughes. Yogi chose not to stay on and was replaced by Malky Mackay. The former Cardiff, Watford and Wigan boss stepped down as the Scottish Football Association's performance director last November after four years in the post.
The Staggies drew their opening league game 0-0 with St Johnstone. They have also beaten Montrose (4-1) and Brora Rangers (1-0) in the Scottish League Cup group-stage but failed to qualify for the second round after forfeiting their opening two games against Dundee and Forfar due to a Covid-19 outbreak at the club.
Ahead of their trip to Easter Road, Mackay has made three new signings.Australian goalkeeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer has joined on a season-long loan from Charlton, Canadian midfielder Ben Paton joins as a free agent having recently left Blackburn Rovers, and versatile youngster Jack Burroughs has come on loan from Coventry City. The trio's arrival takes the total of summer additions to nine.
Head To Head
Ross County won 2-0 at Easter Road last season to hand Yogi his first victory as Staggies boss. Harry Paton and Oli Shaw both scored as the visitors moved off the bottom of the table.
We won 2-1 at Victoria Park in March thanks to second-half goals from Martin Boyle and Kevin Nisbet and our other trip to Dingwall finished 0-0 in October.
Our biggest win over the Staggies came at Easter Road in February 2020 as goals from Marc McNulty, Christian Doidge and Adam Jackson secured a 3-0 win.
The most famous meeting was in March 2016 in the Scottish League Cup Final as a 90th-minute Alex Schalk goal earned Ross County their first piece of major silverware. It was a disappointing 2-1 loss with our goal at Hampden coming from Liam Fontaine.
5,600 Fans
Like against Rijeka, we'll have 5,600 fans inside Easter Road, our joint-largest attendance since the pandemic started. Your vocal support made such a big difference on Thursday spurring us on to come from behind and draw the game.
The 2,000 fans who travelled to Motherwell for our opening league game played such an important role, too. The roar behind the goal when Martin Boyle scored the winner from the penalty spot was emotional.
We are in constant talks with the City of Edinburgh Council about a bigger capacity, but until this happens we'll be offering tickets via an opt-in ballot with 2021/22 season-ticket holders given priority.
If you are coming to Easter Road please read our Spectator Code of Conduct first and follow all the Covid rules to ensure you and your fellow fans stay safe
How To Watch
The game is available on PPV for £15 in the UK and Ireland for non season-ticket holders.
STHs can log in and watch for free. International subscribers can also tune get the game with a Hibs TV subscription.
