Malky Mackay believes his first few months at Ross County felt like it was the Staggies against the world.

The current Hibernian sporting director has been reflecting on a full five years since he stepped into the dug out in Dingwall, but it is easy to forget how things seemed to stack against him in his early days at the club.

Nationwide the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic was still being felt in the summer of 2021. That included in the County dressing room, where there was an outbreak just weeks into Mackay’s tenure.

That forced the forfeiture of his first two scheduled matches in the League Cup group stage, which put progress behind schedule going into Premiership action too.

Mackay recalled: “That was so frustrating. At the time, the messaging coming out of the Scottish FA almost had an admonishing tone, like people were wondering what was going on in Dingwall.

“We were one of the first affected, but within 10 minutes every football team had Covid. We were doing everything correctly, but all of a sudden high levels of the Scottish FA were doubting our practices.

“Not being able to play those first two games was frustrating too. There was the craziness of having two 3-0 defeats without even playing, meaning no matter what we did in the last two games we couldn’t get through.

"People were going through a lot at that time, and there were serious tragedies involving lives rather than three points, so we moved on quite quickly, but it was a frustrating start.

"If we could have played those couple of games, we would have settled in earlier and got a couple of wins under our belt I think.”

That wait for a first league victory saw Ross County through 10 Premiership matches of the season winless as pressure built on Mackay.

He maintained throughout that performances were better than results showed, but that did not change the fact that questions were already being asked around his future.

However, five years ago today, his Staggies side went to Dens Park and thrashed Dundee 5-0, sparking a run that would see County go on to secure just the third top-six finish in the club’s history.

“We had seven defeats and three draws, but we were actually playing well,” Mackay insisted.

“We were creating chances, we were just shooting ourselves in the foot or getting a man sent off, silly things like that. I remember against Livingston in the last 30 seconds a guy headed it in from 25 yards – I couldn’t believe it.

"What I did see, though, was a team who could damage other teams in this division. We were not sitting in and defending for our lives, we were causing murders, so I had hope that my beliefs were getting across.

"A new manager always has new ideas that take time, and the managerial situation in football now is ridiculous with how little time people get to bed in ideas. There is no magic wand, so I knew that it was coming to a head and people were judging me.

"People would have said 'I told you so, it was never going to work', but at the same time I was looking at my own team and I was excited. When I said we were better than the results, that wasn't bravado, that was what I was seeing on the training pitch every day.

"We looked like a team that had bags of confidence, and after that game up to the split, I think only Celtic and Rangers picked up more points.

"It could have been all over very quickly, but I would have been very disappointed if that happened, because I knew we were beginning to develop with the ideas that I had of how I wanted to play.

"I was delighted that my owner and chief executive supported me. We were very close, and at the end of every game I would have two minutes speaking with Ferg.

"It felt like me and him against the world at times at Ross County, because we were on the frontline trying to keep this club in the Premiership against the odds.”