Hibs star Nish rubbishes idea of Rugby Park hoodoo

Nish was still plying his trade in the blue and white of the Ayrshire outfit when goals from Ivan Sproule and Steven Fletcher earned the Easter Road side their last win at his old stomping ground.

That 2-0 victory in January of 2007 came almost exactly three years after Garry O'Connor and Scott Brown had struck for Hibs' previous win away over Killie. And you have to go back another four years to the day Mixu Paatelainen, now, of course, Kilmarnock boss, scored the only goal of the game to uncover another rare Hibs win just off the M77.

In all, Hibs have visited Rugby Park 22 times over the past ten years, their only other cause for celebration being a Scottish Cup triumph with Tam McManus knocking home a last-minute winner.

Other than a smattering of draws it's a miserable record, the 3-1 CIS Insurance Cup defeat earlier this season simply reflecting what has gone before, making the prospect of this Saturday's trip a daunting one for Colin Calderwood's side.

Even although he's a lifelong Hibs fan, Nish admitted he'd regarded the Capital outfit as something of a "lucky" team when he lined up against them, his goals merely adding to the suffering of the travelling fans.

Today, though, the striker dismissed what has gone before as "one of those things," adamant Hibs can repeat their 2-1 victory over Kilmarnock at Easter Road the last time the two clubs met.

Insisting the past counts for nothing, the 29-year-old said: "I remember going up to Tannadice a couple of seasons ago and during the warm-up telling (coach] Gareth Evans I never seemed to get a goal there.

"Then I scored two in the first ten minutes and in the final game of last season I scored another two. That just shows how things can change.

"If we go there and play as we can then I think we are entitled to believe we can get the three points.

"We know we are capable and the boys are confident."

Nish, right, however, agreed that his old club will be adopting a similar approach, Killie having confounded all those who predicted a struggle against relegation - based on the Rugby Park club escaping the drop on the final day of last season - by forcing their way into the top six.

In doing so Paatelainen and his players have attracted plenty of praise for the entertaining football they have played with Finnish internationalist Aleksei Eremenko pulling the strings in midfield while Irish striker Conor Sammon has claimed 14 goals, eight of them in his last six matches.

Nish admitted he's delighted to see his old club and Paatelainen - who realised the player's dream by signing him for Hibs - doing so well although he has his fingers crossed they'll come off second best on Saturday.

He said: "I always look forward to going back to Kilmarnock, I really enjoyed my time there and there's always plenty of banter with the fans.

"Big Mixu has worked wonders with them, he's got them playing really well, so all credit to him. He was brilliant for me, he helped me realise my dream by bringing me to Easter Road so I am delighted for him to be doing so well although, obviously, I'm hoping they come off second best this weekend.

"To be honest, I'm not really surprised to see Conor Sammon among the goals, I remember coming off after playing Killie last season and saying to Ian Murray he looked a good player although he played on the right-hand side that day."

As much as Kilmarnock have been one of this season's surprise teams, Hibs' own poor start to the campaign, having finished fourth last time round, has left many scratching their heads in puzzlement.

Seven games without a win resulted in manager John Hughes losing his job while Calderwood, his replacement, has found consistency an elusive commodity with Hibs now lying uncomfortably in ninth, some 17 points adrift of Capital rivals Hearts.

Now, though, with the postponed match against Hamilton pencilled in for Wednesday night at New Douglas Park, Hibs face a testing programme of five matches in 15 days, a schedule which will culminate with the second Edinburgh derby of the season at Tynecastle on New Year's Day.

But Nish insisted he and his team-mates are viewing the matches with Killie, Accies, Aberdeen, Dundee United and the Jambos as opportunities to collect the points they so badly need to extricate themselves from even the thought of a relegation fight.

The hectic schedule follows a disappointing no-scoring draw with St Johnstone, a match which has almost faded into the dim and distant past with Hibs, like many other clubs, enduring three weeks of enforced idleness thanks to the bitter winter weather.

Now, though, Calderwood's players are desperate to be back in action. Nish said: "I think there's been a gradual improvement since the new manager came in.

"It's been frustrating not to have had a game over the past few weeks and after the St Johnstone game when we didn't play so well.

"The training has been good, we've been indoors a bit but it's been hard work. We've also had a couple of bounce games but we are all raring to go in front of a crowd again.

"Killie are much in the same boat and I think we'll both be happy enough having not had a game for a while that we are not playing a team which managed a match last weekend or in midweek.

"I don't think any of us are looking at the table too much, you just go out there for each match aiming to do well and trying to win. Certainly if we were to find ourselves down there towards the end of the season there would be a worry but?.?.?.?rather than be concerned our aim is to get ourselves back into the top six as quickly as possible."