Hibs must forget the Hampden showpiece – defeating Livingston has to be the focus this week
I wouldn’t imagine too many Hibs fans are relishing Saturday’s trip to Hampden for the Betfred Cup semi-final against Celtic, particularly after watching Neil Lennon’s side go to Pittodrie and coast to a win against Aberdeen.But that can’t be a distraction to the players. Wednesday night’s game with Livingston is the big one. It’s obvious we badly need a win, and soon, because we are in a real predicament, just one point off bottom place which we could easily find ourselves occupying on Thursday morning. A really worrying prospect.So, we have to forget Celtic and be prepared to go out there and be ready for a battle with Livingston. We know just how tough they’ll make it and we have to be up for the game, ready to meet the physical test they’ll give us and to match them all the way to the final whistle.A win isn’t going to send us catapulting up the table but a good result would undoubtedly help the players’ confidence and let them go into the semi-final with a “nothing to lose, everything to gain” attitude.To be honest, the big games we’ve had recently against Celtic and Aberdeen have taken care of themselves, we’ve done well in each of them. But it’s against other teams where we have struggled, the ones where, if we are to start climbing the table, we need to pick up a lot more points than we have so far this season.Although we are second bottom with just eight points from ten games - as are St Mirren and Hearts - we are only seven points adrift of Aberdeen in fifth place.Obviously it’s a gap that is far from insurmountable but the fact it is there in the first place is down to the points we’ve dropped, from winning positions, to St Johnstone, Hearts, Hamilton, Ross County and the Dons.We can’t afford to let it happen again on Wednesday night. Livingston are tough opponents for anyone as their results