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Lochlin Highet

Kilmarnock winger Daniel MacKay relishing chance to face former side in huge clash

Daniel MacKay admits it will be strange facing the side he played with since he was just seven.

The pacey winger left Inverness in the summer to join Hibs, and he's now on loan to title rivals Kilmarnock.

The winner of the match has a chance of going to within one point of league leaders Arbroath, with the loser at risk of being seven off the pace depending on the result at Gayfield against Partick Thistle.

And MacKay says there will be no loyalties in favour of the Highland side despite having plenty of friends there.

He said: "Am I a secret weapon? You could say so but I’ve been away for six months and I don’t the ins and outs.

"Hopefully the stuff I do know from the team last season I can use as an advantage to help the coaching staff with anything they need.

"It will be a weird experience, I was at Inverness my whole life until the summer but it’s a challenge I’m looking forward to and hopefully we can come out with a result.

"I was in the youth team from the age of seven and I was 19 when I left so it was a long time. It was good but I’m on a new journey now.

"My mum, dad and brother are coming down to watch the game so that will be good and I’ve got a few mates who I came through the youth team with like Cammy Harper and Roddy McGregor, I’ve played with them since I was 10 years old. I’ve played with most of the boys there for about three years, I know them really well and they know me.

Meanwhile MacKay has revealed that he had an open discussion with new Hibs boss Shaun Maloney about his game time.

The winger was recovering from injury and was also struck down with Covid so he's struggled to get going after making appearances earlier this season.

He said: "I had an honest discussion with him [Maloney] and said if I’m not guaranteed game time at Hibs I need to go elsewhere and play and Kilmarnock were interested.

"It was a simple decision to go out and play games, there is no point in waiting and hoping when I can get game time here.

"It was not a case of not being good enough, I was injured at the time and I had Covid, I had no chance of getting back in when the boys were doing well.

"When you see the squad now at Hibs it makes it even harder. I made this decision to go out on loan myself, prove myself and get ready for next year.

"There is also the attraction of possibility winning a title and working under Derek McInnes. It was an easy decision in the end.

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