Jason Naismith tells team-mates to realise how lucky they are to play for Hibs

Jason Naismith, the on-loan Peterborough defender, is calling on his Hibs colleagues to show they appreciate how lucky they are to wear the jersey – and prove it fits.
Jason Naismith battles with Ross County's Josh Mullin during Hibs' midweek defeat in Dingwall. Picture: Bruce White/SNSJason Naismith battles with Ross County's Josh Mullin during Hibs' midweek defeat in Dingwall. Picture: Bruce White/SNS
Jason Naismith battles with Ross County's Josh Mullin during Hibs' midweek defeat in Dingwall. Picture: Bruce White/SNS

The 25-year-old, who joined the Posh from Ross County on a three-year deal in June last year, is loving his time at Easter Road but was left deeply-frustrated by another capitulation from a winning position back at his former ground on Wednesday night.

Just as they had against Kilmarnock at the weekend, Hibs threw away the lead, this time ending up 2-1 losers to hosts Ross County.

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In seven of their last 11 games, Hibs have given up leads – and Naismith admits it has to stop.

He said: “As players, we need to realise how lucky we are to have this opportunity to play for Hibs.

“I love it here – I love playing with Hibs. It’s obviously a 
massive club and every day’s a joy going in.

“I’m back to enjoying my football again. It’s an honour to be here.

“Collectively, we need to get a steeliness about ourselves. We’re going ahead in games and we’re probably thinking it’s won, but it’s obviously not won, as we’ve seen on far too many occasions.

“We need to get that out of our game.

“It was really frustrating against Ross County – similar problems to last weekend in giving away two soft goals.

“This time we came away empty-handed so it’s massively frustrating.

“I thought we were the better team for the full game but obviously we were hit by two goals from balls into the box. It was soft.

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“We’ve dropped five points now from winning positions against Ross County alone this season and in both games we felt really comfortable. It’s not good enough.”

Naismith insists the tendency to toss away points is not an ingrained habit but he admits the dressing room needs to adopt a more Hibs-like mentality under new manager Jack Ross.

The former Ross County and St Mirren right-back stressed: “There’s always pressure playing with Hibs. The manager has come in and will see us every day in training, so he’ll have an idea about our 
mentalities.

“It’s something we need to work on as a group and look forward towards putting it right and improving.

“Losing leads doesn’t feel like a habit, certainly not from my perspective. It’s a frustration more than anything because we’ve been conceding soft goals, so it’s something we need to look at.

“It’s clear to see that we need to toughen up mentally to see these games out. Nobody can argue with that.

“We can back each other up all we like, but it’s clear as day. From the positions we’ve got ourselves into and the number of points we’ve let slip, we’ve not been mentally good enough. The mentality has to change and it has to change quickly.”

Next up Hibs host third top Aberdeen, a side more than capable of punishing such weaknesses.

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Naismith added: “Aberdeen were the second best team in Scotland for a while until last year. They’re obviously one of the top teams in the league and Derek McInnes will have them fired up coming to 
Easter Road.

“We need to analyse what happened on Wednesday and then put it behind us because it was our first defeat in ten league games.

“We need to move on and 
try to get back on a winning run.”