Hibs: Bottom six is embarrassing but it'll make us stronger, vows Brown

MARK BROWN is hoping the ignominy of finishing the season in the bottom six will act as a wake-up call for everyone at Hibs and go a long way to ensuring they are competing at the opposite end of the table at this time next year.

Following tomorrow's televised clash at home to First Division-bound Hamilton, Hibs face another five meaningless games in the bottom six after their recent revival came too late to propel them into the top half. But goalkeeper Brown, one of the few Hibs players to emerge with pass-marks from the disastrous first half of the season, insists there's no chance of Hibs taking things easy.

He is still stunned that his side have found themselves in such a predicament after starting the season in the Europa League, and insists he and his team-mates are determined to maintain momentum in an effort to ensure the club carry some kind of feelgood factor into next season.

"It's disappointing to be in the bottom six, but unfortunately we have not played well enough to get into the top six," he conceded.

"I think we've got to be a bit embarrassed about that. The expectations were high after finishing fourth last season. If you told us at the start of the season we would be bottom six, we would not have believed it. Our aim was to be in the top six and challenging for Europe the same as last year.

"We didn't start too badly, but had a few chances in games that we lost that we could have won. We lost Anthony Stokes then signed Darryl Duffy. He was looking fantastic in training and then breaks his foot before he plays a game. At times I think we've had a bad run with injuries. We didn't get the results then the manager left and the new one came in so there was a period of transition where he was trying to get to know different players. It's been a difficult season for many reasons but we don't want to make too many excuses.

"I still think we had enough quality to get better results than what we had. A club the size of Hibs should be pushing towards the top six. We have to make sure we don't finish in the bottom six again. We have a great training facility to come and work at every day, we have a great stadium and the fans have been fantastic even though results have not been great. As a club we owe it to the fans to give them something to cheer about.

"It's a case now of can we finish top of the bottom six? We've got six games to go, but I think they're winnable games. We're not writing off the season. We want to win as many as we can but I think the manager is looking at different players between now and the end of the season for building for next season."We have been on not a bad run apart from the Celtic game, so it's a case of trying to continue that. There is a lot of confidence in the camp, and we want to win all six games. That might not happen but that has to be our aim. When I was at Inverness we won all five game after the spit and I think we ended up with more points than the team that came sixth."

Meanwhile, Brown insists he has not been unnerved by playing behind an extremely young defence, with the likes of Callum Booth, Paul Hanlon, Richie Towell and David Stephens all in the side of late. "You don't really notice it," said Brown. "Good players are good players at any age. If they're good enough they're old enough. I would not say there is any greater emphasis on me being more vocal than normal, you have to help the defenders out. As a keeper, you are their eyes as you can see players running across the park. You need to help them out but I don't think that changes too much. The young boys have been playing really well and you don't really notice their age as such.

"I think it augurs well for the future. We have quite a young squad and the more experience they get they better they'll become. David Stephens has come in and I think he has been magnificent, I thought he was a man of the match against Aberdeen. For next season it bodes well for the club."