Hibs' Ross County cup match stacks up as a 'massive' fixture

John Hughes' side travel to Dingwall tomorrow night in the quarter-finals of the competition, just a few days after going down 2-1 to the Jambos at Tynecastle.

The defeat saw Hearts close the gap on Hibs to seven points, while Dundee United stretched their lead in third position by taking a point from their draw against Aberdeen.

The next few days will have a huge bearing on how Hibs' season will pan out and Stack admitted: "We have got a massive game on Tuesday night now that we have to focus on. I looked at the fixtures for the month ahead of us and knew that this month was going to be huge for us, the biggest month of our season.

"It's not got off to the start that I wanted, the players wanted or the coaching staff would have wanted. The lucky thing for us is that we have got a game that can help us put that right and put ourselves into the semi-final of the cup.

"We've lost the derby now, there's nothing we can do to change that fact. But hopefully we can go out against Ross County, get the right result and go some way towards making amends for that."

Stack still believes his side are more than capable of re-igniting their season – and of beating United and Motherwell to that third spot.

He continued: "If we win that game against Ross County then everything changes. When you get into a bit of a rut where you are not winning games then it does affect you. The only way to put that right and give the punters something to sing about is to get to Hampden, a semi-final, and who knows, that could turn our season around.

"Earlier in the season we were in third place and on a great run, some people were even talking about second place or first – but this just shows you how quickly things can change in football.

"Now we are talking about whether we are still capable of finishing in third or even fourth.

"Initially, we wanted to finish in third position and to get to the cup final. As far as I am concerned, that is still on.

"By no means is this season over, there is still plenty to fight for as far as I am concerned."