Stack remains confident struggling Hibs can breathe life back into season

HIBERNIAN goalkeeper Graham Stack has insisted that his team's targets for the season are still achievable despite a run of results which has seen them fall to fifth in the SPL.

Their defeat in the Edinburgh derby on Saturday – Hibs' first SPL defeat against their Edinburgh rivals since January 2008 – means they have now won just once in their last eight games, and Stack accepts that the confidence of some of the less experienced members of the squad has suffered. He believes, however, that if his club win their Scottish Cup quarter-final replay at Ross County tomorrow night, they could get what was until recently a hugely promising campaign back on track.

"We've got a massive game on Tuesday – possibly our biggest of the season," he said after the 2-1 loss at Tynecastle. "I looked at this month ahead of us and thought it was the biggest month of our season. It hasn't got off to the start we wanted, but we've got a game on Tuesday to put it right and put ourselves into a semi-final.

"We win a game, it all changes. When you get in a rut of not winning games, of losing and drawing, and things just aren't going for you, it does affect the players.

"The only way to put that right and give the punters something to sing about this season would be to get to Hampden, get to a semi. And who knows? That could turn our season round completely.

"Sometimes you need the cup just to give you a little break and a different type of focus. I think we'll get that Tuesday. It's going to be a very, very tough game, we're all well aware of that, but if we can turn it round up there and get a result, then who knows?"

After losing three games in a row for the first time this season in February, Hibs appeared to have stopped the rot by drawing with St Johnstone then beating Kilmarnock. Those two games, however, were followed by the cup draw with Ross County, also at Easter Road, and that result against the First Division side was arguably more demoralising than the earlier losses to Premier League opposition.

"I'm not going to start making excuses about bad luck," Stack said of his team's current poor run. "We've had our luck previously in the season and that's great. In recent weeks we may sit down and start to blame pitches and bad luck, but we've only got ourselves to blame.

"We all know we've not been good enough in the last few weeks. There might be a lack of confidence at the moment around the place, and probably rightly so. We've got a few young boys in there.

"Maybe in hindsight we set our stall out too well, set our expectations up so high, and the punters seemed to believe we're better than we actually are. Maybe we're being found out a little bit. Maybe we're not as great as we all thought.

"If we go out the cup it turns our season upside down. We were looking at third place, comfortably. A great run of results gave us a bit of a gap and people were talking about second or first.

"This is how quickly football changes. Now we're talking about can we finish third, can we finish fourth?

"Only time will tell. We've got games coming up, so I'm sure in three weeks' time the picture will be a lot clearer.

"Initially we wanted to finish third and get to the cup final. As far as I'm concerned, that's still on. So by no means is the season over yet. There's still plenty to fight for as far as I'm concerned."

Had Hibs won on Saturday they would have gone back into third place, ahead of Motherwell and Dundee United. So their league objective is within touching distance, and they are at least still in the cup.

Stack believes that although his team-mates created few real chances on Saturday, they can take heart from the fact they did not become downhearted after going two goals down. "Second half I felt we gave a good account of ourselves," he said. "We showed there is a bit of spirit and fight amongst the boys. We maybe didn't create a great deal, but certainly the way we went about our business in the second half was pleasing for us. We were told at half-time by the manager to go out and win the second half. We've done that – obviously not enough to get anything out of the game, but we approached the second half in the right way and who knows, if we'd started like that then possibly I wouldn't be talking about a defeat."

Unlike Stack, his manager John Hughes, who saw Chris Hogg and Paul Hanlon fail fitness tests, felt Hibs had started the game well enough.

"I felt we were the better team, then Hearts scored," Hughes said. "We were playing the better football and causing them problems and Liam Miller was getting in there.

"The first goal was scrappy, it should have been dealt with on two or three occasions. To lose the second in quick succession has really dented us.

"We had to fly by the seat of our pants a bit to try to get back into it. We got lucky and got ourselves back in the match but never really did enough to get something out of it in terms of points."

Following an impressive 5-1 win over Hamilton in January, Hughes set his side the target of a third-place finish. At that time, he was accused by some of being over-cautious due to the fact Hibs were hot on the heels of Celtic in second spot.

While talk of splitting the Old Firm may now look to have been fanciful, Hughes believes Hibs still have it within themselves to re-ignite their challenge for third.

"There are so many clubs in Scotland that would give their right arm to be where Hibs are just now," he said. "We're coming to the business end of the season and we are where we wanted to be, fighting for a European spot and the Scottish Cup."

"We know what is at stake. We need to regroup and we need big characters, not feel sorry for ourselves. Hopefully the players will go out there and give us the answers we're looking for."