Goals, goals, goals - the demands being placed on Hibs ahead of Premiership season opener

Nathan Moriah-Welsh insists Hibs are ready for the start of the new Scottish Premiership season after a mixed Premier Sports Cup group stage campaign.

The Easter Road side qualified for the last 16 – where they will meet Celtic – following a 4-0 win over Peterhead on Saturday after recovering from a shock defeat at Kelty Hearts the previous weekend to progress as group winners.

Hibs open their league campaign at St Mirren on Sunday and Moriah-Welsh, who signed from Bournemouth in January, is confident of a better season under David Gray than last term's eighth-placed finish which resulted in the sacking of Nick Montgomery.

Nathan Moriah-Welsh scores Hibs' fourth goal in the win over Peterhead. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)

"With respect to the opposition, it’s going to be a big jump," the midfielder said after also playing his part in wins over Queen’s Park and Elgin City. "We’ve had competitive games for the last three weeks now and it’s straight into competitive games again.

“We’ve all enjoyed it and now it’s down to the nitty gritty of the league.

"We’ve been ready for a couple of weeks now. It’s been good, the buzz is good and the confidence coming from the gaffer and staff after last season, for me especially, has been massive. It’s been really positive.”

Moriah-Welsh scored his first competitive goal for Hibs in the win over Peterhead and revealed that new boss Gray is demanding extra focus on finishing chances.

"Even from the first week of pre-season he’s like goals, goals, goals and be ruthless in both boxes, don’t concede and score goals. That has been the message from the gaffer.

"We’ve got to show that, be aggressive in both boxes and believe in ourselves as much as the gaffer believes in us.”

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