Hibs must show courage in Highland skirmish with battered County

Monty's men ordered to stick with tactics regardless of conditions

Jair Tavares scored when Hibs hosted County in a 2-2 draw on Halloween.

Hibs boss Nick Montgomery has urged his players to be “brave” as they head to the Highlands for a crucial clash on Saturday. And he insists even wild and wet conditions should be no excuse for ditching ambitious tactics to play free-flowing football.

Speaking ahead of his team’s weekend trip to Dingwall, where they’ll face a Ross County side likely to be either fired up or completely demotivated by manager Derek Adams launching a tirade against the standard of football in Scotland’s elite division, Montgomery said the 1-0 weekend loss to St Johnstone shouldn’t provoke a complete rethink on how Hibs play the game. And, despite forecasts of torrential rain at Victoria Park, he wants his players to bring ambition and swagger to the contest.

“When you create an identity, it’s important that the players buy in – and that they’re brave enough to execute the game plan,” he said, adding: “Sometimes you have to factor in the conditions, a synthetic pitch, the wind howling. Sometimes the conditions make it hard.

“It’s important that players stick to the principles you’ve worked on throughout the week, while still being intelligent players. Sometimes they make mistakes, sometimes it doesn’t go to plan, for whatever reason.

“I will always say to players that I want them to be brave. Just because of a bad performance or a bad result, that’s no reason to change and throw out all the effort we’ve put in.

“I was disappointed with the speed of the game at the weekend, it was a slow game, and that’s a reflection on me. But the players also take accountability, they work hard to implement what we’re looking for.

“We don’t like losing games of football. It was a disappointing loss and performance. The game was really flat. That’s something we’ve discussed internally, because it was a disappointing day – not the standard I expect from the players, and I expect myself.

“It’s our fourth away trip on the bounce, probably one of the longest trips, just before Christmas, so we’ll be going up on Friday. It’s a tough schedule. I’m not sure how we’ve got four away games on the bounce – but it is what it is.”

Paul Hanlon has recovered from a minor knock, while Rocky Bushiri is fully fit - and Lewis Miller is healthy again after suffering from a sickness bug.