John Rankin eager to show Hibs are worthy of their third place aims

HAILED as one of the defining matches of their season, it's clear no-one at Hibs is in any doubt three points tonight would help galvanise their European ambitions, while a defeat would open the door to the demons that have been stalking them throughout the past couple of months.

Four days after victory over Falkirk gave them only their second win in ten games another triumph, this time at Easter Road tonight, would see them usurp their guests Dundee United and earn a timely return to third place. It was a position they surrendered as they amassed a run of results which included losses to Rangers, St Johnstone, Hearts, and Motherwell in the league and then Ross County in the Active Nation Scottish Cup, and while manager John Hughes continued to pinpoint positives throughout that slump, they were less obvious to others.

But while it was suggested the players had been unable to cope with the demands and expectations their early-season form had left them shouldering, the downturn in their fortunes coinciding with their manager's public assertion that his sights were set on tying up European football next term, the notion was dismissed by midfielder John Rankin. Which is significant, if it can be backed up by deed this evening.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

While the tussle for third remains a three-way fight, with Motherwell capitalising on Hibs' form collapse to close the gap on them to two points, the Fir Park side have played a match more and Hibs will regain the initiative with their second consecutive win.

"The confidence is high after the win on Saturday but it has been a long time coming, " said Rankin. "We were bitterly disappointed after losing to Hearts and Ross County. This place was very quiet last Thursday and Friday. But the boys are buzzing now and we go into this game on a high. There are always expectations at this club but when it comes to this game, there is not going to be anyone with higher expectations than the players themselves. We expect from each other and, hopefully, we can achieve our main aim this season, which is to finish third."

Cup exits mean that is now their only focus and even that opportunity seemed to be slipping from their grasp, until goals from Derek Riordan, Anthony Stokes and Sol Bamba added up to a win on Saturday. The three-goal rally came after they had slipped behind on Saturday and proved the ideal response to the accusation they had lacked the mental strength to "win ugly" against First Division Ross County.

They now go into this game buoyed by the knowledge that at home they have had a bit more steel. There have only been two defeats there on league duty all season, against Celtic and Rangers, but the flip side is that Dundee United have only lost two away games, against the same two teams. The Tannadice side also have a slender advantage in head-to-heads, winning the January clash after the teams had drawn in October.

"We had a determination about us on Saturday," said Rankin. "The dressing room was quiet but we had that determination within ourselves to say, 'We're not going to lose today'. There is definitely room for improvement and we might need to grind some results out before the end of the season but we rolled the sleeves up and got three points and we might need to do that again.

"We put a run together at the start of the season and we have not done so since then. Hopefully Saturday was the start of another run because it's going to take another run like that to get third spot."

For Dundee United manager Peter Houston, that win over Falkirk was perfectly timed to re-ignite Hibs' challenge for the spot United occupy.

Despite Falkirk dominating for long spells, Houston believes he has seen enough to assume Hibs are over their "sticky patch".

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"I think Hibs are through their sticky patch now and they're looking back to their best. They are too good a team to stay like that for too long," said Houston.

"I really admire them and what Yogi and Brian Rice have done. They play free-flowing football, love to attack and are great to watch.

"It has the makings of a really good match. In fact, since we came here the games against them have been excellent. Last time we went down there, they battered us in the first-half, but I felt we reversed that after half-time. So the teams are evenly matched and to get anything from it we'll need to be at our best.

"If we can get the win then it would be as close to the perfect week you could get. But that's not the way we're thinking. We've achieved nothing yet, there is plenty of hard work still to be done."