Hibs fed up of being fall guys

Hibs boss John Hughes today claimed his Easter Road stars have become sick of being the "whipping boys" of Scottish football, insisting he's detected a determination among his squad to finally silence their critics.

A stuttering start to the season with just one win in eight matches has put the Edinburgh club, it's manager and players under intense scrutiny with Hughes forced on the defensive on a weekly basis as a further victory has proved elusive.

Ahead of tomorrow's match against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park Hughes was reminded that, should Hibs lose and other results conspire against his side, then they'll go bottom of the SPL, the Easter Road manager immediately pointing out that should the reverse happen they'll shoot up the table.

And Hughes is convinced that once Hibs get back on a run they'll have every chance of emulating last season's fourth place finish.

He said: "You can make of statistics what you want. We're only five points off third place and things haven't even really started yet, everyone is cutting each other's throats."

Hughes acknowledged, however, that Hibs need to start picking up results and believes his players have had enough of being kicked about.

He said: "I am in amongst them every day and there's a real hunger among the boys. There's been an edge in training, they've been falling out with each other, getting stuck into each other. They are desperate to do well but we need to start getting results."

Striker Colin Nish and defender Sol Bamba are available again having recovered from the injuries which ruled them out at Celtic last week.

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