Dnipro clash on back burner

While Hibs fans are excitedly looking forward to the Ukrainian outfit's visit to Edinburgh, Hogg revealed that Tony Mowbray's players are solely focused on United's trip to Easter Road. Having bounced back from a derby day mauling at Tynecastle, Hibs have won their last three matches, scoring eight goals and conceding none, a record they want to maintain before turning their eyes to Europe.

United's visit marks the start of a hectic seven matches in 21 days on three different fronts for Hibs, three of those games coming in the next eight days with the Tannadice side quickly followed by Dnipro and Celtic. And for Hogg, who had to wait eight months for a taste of first-team action, his chance coming as skipper Gary Caldwell punctured a lung and fractured a rib against Hearts, it's a demanding spell of football which he is relishing.

He said: "The coming week is a big one for the club but one everyone is looking forward to. But first and foremost, tomorrow's match is the one we have to focus on.

"The next game is always the biggest match of your season and none of us is thinking any further ahead. But once it is out of the way then, obviously, attention will turn to Thursday and seeing if we can get the job done against Dnipro."

While Hibs' form over the past few weeks has been impressive - culminating in that astonishing 3-0 win over Rangers at Ibrox - Hogg believes there is still more to come from Mowbray's youngsters. He said: "I still feel our performances as a team can get better. We have to build on our recent results, starting with another good display against United.

"I'm obviously happy that we've won our last three games but as a defender you take pleasure in clean sheets and conceding as few goals as possible so I think we can be happy with the way these matches have gone.

"We know that if we can keep a clean sheet then we'll have a very good chance of winning because we have players who can cause teams major problems. If we don't lose goals and stay solid at the back and in the middle then we have players up front and in midfield who can score and so we know we can pick up points." World Cup qualifying matches created a fortnight's break between league games, one which Hogg admitted he'd rather have avoided given Hibs last result.

He added: "After such a big win all we wanted to do was play again as soon as possible, I'm sure we'd happily have played on the Monday night if asked. It was a great feeling to beat Rangers but it is no point doing it once - we have to keep on doing it.

"Rangers had a couple of chances during the game, they'll always create a few at Ibrox. But they didn't have too many clear-cut openings and apart from one in the second half which Steven Thompson could not quite reach I thought we were quite comfortable and started passing the ball much better."

The name on everyone's lips after Ibrox was, of course, Ivan Sproule who became the first Hibs player to score a hat-trick in Govan for more than 100 years. And the flying forward found life became even sweeter as he made his Northern Ireland debut in the Province's historic win over England at Windsor Park, their first in Belfast in almost 80 years, in midweek.

Although he is a former England youth team captain, former York City and Ipswich Town youngster Hogg insisted he was delighted for his Easter Road team-mate. He said: "I saw Ivan yesterday morning and shook his hand. I couldn't have been happier for him. I watched it on television and of course I was disappointed England lost but we didn't deserve anything from the game.

"I was genuinely delighted for Ivan. His head was up in the clouds after scoring his hat-trick at Ibrox and then he gets into the Northern Ireland squad and makes his debut against England.

"There can't be too many players who can say they've played in two big games like that in the space of a week and a bit."

Those matches, however, are in the past, Hogg insisting: "What's done is done, you can't afford to keep thinking about it, what you must do is look to the future and for us that means tomorrow's match against Dundee United."

While Hibs enjoyed a 100 per cent league record against the Tayside club last season, winning all three matches, it was a different story in the two cup competitions as they came from behind on each occasion to send Hibs spinning out of the CIS Cup and then, after Hogg's arrival at Easter Road in January, the Scottish Cup. Although he played no part in the semi-final disappointment at Hampden - he was recovering from a serious arm injury at the time - Hogg felt just as low as anyone at the club.

But while insisting there was no sense of seeking revenge on this occasion. He said: "Of course the semi-final result was a major disappointment for everyone at the club - manager, players and fans alike - but we bounced back and achieved our target which was to finish third in the league.

"This is a new season, we know how well we can do if we go out and perform in every game as it comes along."

United have again been active in the transfer market, snapping up striker Lee Miller after Hearts dragged their heels over making his loan spell from Bristol City a permanent deal, Dunfermline goalkeeper Derek Stillie, David Fernandez from Celtic and, just this week, Peter Canero from Leicester City.

But Hogg said: "All teams have good players around the pitch but like other sides in the SPL they'll be strong in some areas and not so strong in others. However, we'll be concentrating on ourselves and looking to win again."