Hughes calls on Hibs players to earn the side some time off

JOHN HUGHES today challenged his Easter Road stars to earn themselves a holiday by getting Hibs back on the winning track against St Johnstone today.

SCHEDULE: John Hughes

The trip to McDiarmid Park will be followed by a fortnight without a match as the SPL takes a second break to accommodate Scotland's latest Euro double-header, with Craig Levein's squad seeking to build on the four points taken from their opening two matches as they face the Czech Republic and Spain.

But, while well aware his players have probably been anticipating a few days off themselves, Hughes was refusing to sanction a break ahead of today's clash in Perth.

As such the Hibs boss has training sessions pencilled in for Monday, Wednesday and Thursday with a closed-doors match, probably against another SPL side, lined up for Tuesday with his plans thereafter still to be determined.

However, he revealed much could rest on today's match. He said: "Having always played football I know having a few days to spend with the family is a good thing. But you have to go and earn it and that's what I will be saying to the players. Right at this moment, our results have not been good enough. We've a schedule drawn up for this week and then we'll look at things and see if they get the weekend off."

Hughes will undoubtedly have his fingers crossed that he'll be able to sanction a few days off before Hibs face Kilmarnock at Easter Road in a fortnight's time but, while he believes his side are more than capable of winning against St Johnstone, he insisted his players face a tough task as they return to the ground where they were hammered 5-1 on their last visit.

He said: "I have the greatest of respect for what Derek McInnes has done up there. I've seen them a few times, they are a good side who can mix it up. They have a real physical presence, they can go from back-to-front and we have to stand up to it.

"But the most important thing is we believe in what we are doing, football is a game of highs and lows and we have to try to get more highs than lows by getting a bit of consistency into our game but I do feel that is starting to come."