Hanlon keen to keep up his Paisley pattern for Hibs

The Easter Road kid as enjoyed his success at the other end of the M8 with Scotland's Under-21 side, winning a European Championship qualifying clash with Belarus and then drawing against Sweden in Renfrewshire.

Although he admitted he'll feel right at home tomorrow Hanlon also revealed he'll be making the journey determined to see Hibs win at the home of the Buddies for the first time since 1999.

Saints, of course, haven't spent all those years in the top flight, but nevertheless, Hanlon admitted it's a record which badly needs putting straight with both sides going into the match hurting from heavy defeats at the hands of the Old Firm last weekend.

As Hibs found themselves crushed by Rangers striker Kenny Miller's hat-trick, Saints suffered even more, losing 4-0 to Celtic before crashing out of the Co-operative Insurance Cup in midweek to First Division Ross County.

It's as scenario which makes John Hughes wary, the Hibs boss warning his players they'll have to adopt a totally different mindset to that with which they approached Rangers, the visit of the Ibrox side marking the opening of the impressive 6400 capacity East Stand at Easter Road.

Hughes said: "If you couldn't be inspired by all of thta then you should not be playing football. But St Mirren is a hard place to go. the last time we won there was in 1999 although there's been a few draws along the way.

"Our focus has to be 100 per cent. They will be hurting having been knocked out of the League Cup by Ross County although that is no disgrace as they put us out of the Scottish Cup last season. Danny Lennon (Saints manager] will be wanting a first win under his belt but if we play as we did for the first hour against Rangers for the full 90 minutes then I think we might have too much in the locker for them."

Hanlon agreed with his boss, insisting he and his team-mates will have no difficult in refocusing on the task in hand. He said: "There was a lot of hype last week because of the new stand but we were happy enough with our performance for the first hour but disappointed to lose three goals which, we felt, put an unfair reflection on the game.

"We created some chances but when you do that against the Old Firm you have to take them. Edwin de Graaf had a great opportunity to score but as soon as they got the first goal we found ourselves chasing the game.

"You have to treat every game as a big match, we can't look on tomorrow any differently than we did Rangers coming to Easter Road. We must apply ourselves properly and if we put in a good performance I'd like to think we'd be good for the three points."

Pivotal to Hibs' hopes, of course, will be the presence of striker Anthony Stokes, strongly linked with a move to Celtic, although the Easter Road outfit have refused to comment on what they describe as speculation.

Hanlon, though, admitted, anyone at Easter Road would be disappointed to see a player who scored 23 goals last season depart. He said: "If he were to go it would be a big loss, not just because of the goals he scores but the fact he can hold the ball up and bring others in to play.

"If it does happen then we've guys like Derek Riordan and Colin Nish who can get the goals but we'd all obviously like to see Anthony stay."

One player who will be missing, however, is midfielder Kevin McBride following his controversial red card after a clash with Rangers hitman Kyle Lafferty, a decision which, Hanlon revealed, had left his team-mate bemused.

He said: "Kevin didn't feel he did too much wrong, the ball was still in play when he kicked it and it hit off Lafferty. He's a big player for us to be missing. I think he is the sort of guy who gets through a lot of work which goes un-noticed.

"As a centre-half you see him in there shutting off the balls to the opposition strikers, he's in there breaking things up but he has great ability as well when he is on the ball."

Also missing will be right back Michael Hart, who was forced off against Rangers with a hamstring injury while goalkeeper Graham Stack, who missed out last weekend with a back problem, has also been ruled out although Riordan, another casualty in the 3-0 defeat, has been passed fit to play.

Following tomorrow's match Hanlon, along with David Wotherspoon, will report for duty with Billy Stark's Under-21 side for their crucial Euro matches against Belarus and Austria, the draw between those two countries earlier this month having thrown their qualifying group wide open.

Hanlon said: "It's a bit strange, I've played twice at St Mirren but not for Hibs. So I'm used to playing there, it's a great pitch and one which should suit our style of play.

"Then it's off to the 21s. We beat Belarus in Paisley but only with the last kick of the ball but we'll be going there looking for another win to take into our final match with Austria. Hopefully we can win both and qualify."