Jamie Murphy: We don't want to be like Hibs teams of the past

Hibs dropped out of the cinch Premiership top four for the first in 18 months on Saturday but Jamie Murphy has no plans to stay there.

Hibs players prepare to take centre after conceding to Dundee United in the 3-0 defeat at Easter Road. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

The 3-0 defeat to Dundee United at Easter Road saw both the visitors and Celtic climb above Hibs in the standings as Jack Ross' side dropped to fifth – the club’s lowest league position since the return of football from the pandemic-enforced shutdown in March 2020.

Murphy is looking for an instant response as Hibs look to avoid falling into the category of one-hit wonders after finishing third for the first time in 16 years last season.

“I had a look at the table after the game was finished and saw we were down to fifth which is disappointing," said the former Rangers winger.

"We don’t want to be down there. I think we’ve set a standard that we want to be top four, or top three, so that’s what we’re looking at.

"Maybe in the past teams have dropped out [of the top places]. We don’t want it to be like that. We want it to be that we’re pushing for third every year.

"I’m sure we’ll fix it, but it’s disappointing to have lost today and be out the top places.”

Hibs face a struggling Aberdeen side at Pittodrie next Saturday and Murphy is keen to right the wrongs of the performance against United, where the Easter Road men were surprisingly well beaten on their home turf, and booed off by their own fans.

"There are a number of things you can probably put it down to but it’s hard to put your finger on just one. We were beaten by the better team on the day.

"We’re not going to just chuck it after one defeat,” Murphy continued. “We’re going to keep trying, starting with the game at Aberdeen next week.

"Hopefully this is the only low point for us this year and we can learn from it, try to get better, and go into next week full of confidence. It's going to be hard after this result but I’m sure we’ll do things right. It’s a good group of boys in there, and staff as well. Everyone will be in on Monday morning trying to fix it and working hard to prepare for next week.”

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