McBride says Hibs have to make a firm stand

KEVIN McBRIDE admits Hibs' last trip to McDiarmid Park was a personal nightmare - and not just because of the scoreline.

The midfielder was ruled out by injury back in February when the Easter Road side took on Derek McInnes' team.

McBride sat helpless in the stand as his side finished the 90 minutes on the wrong end of a 5-1 scoreline.

Anthony Stokes hit Hibs' only reply that night while Liam Craig (2), Cillian Sheridan (2) and Kenny Deuchar all added their name to the scoresheet.

It was something of a freak result for John Hughes' men, who finished the season in fourth place in the SPL, but McBride conceded that it had still been hard to stomach.

The former Falkirk player is not the best when it comes to being an enforced spectator and he conceded that night sitting in the stand was one of the worst experiences of his career.

Ahead of this Saturday's return to Perth, he said: "I was injured the last time we went up there and it's one of those games that you just want to forget about.

"That was a really weird game, I was out injured but I went up to watch it and I think they could have scored more.

"It was just one of those nights and I don't think we created much, sometimes it just doesn't come off for you.

"It was torture sitting in the stand. It's bad enough being on the pitch during a result like that but I think that I was probably more nervous on the sidelines. At least when you're out there you can try to do something about it but you just have to sit there and watch it all go wrong and your team-mates get stick. It's not great when you're sitting in amongst it."

McBride is injury-free and available for selection this time around and hoping that manager John Hughes will include him in the starting line-up at McDiarmid on Saturday. But, with that last visit still fresh in his mind, McBride warned that Saints will make it just as difficult for them again. He continued: "I think that any team going up there will find it a difficult task because Derek McInnes has got them playing well and they're always a hard side to play, especially at home. They're a physical side and they don't leak many goals but this is really a must win for us because it would be great to go into the international break on a bit of a high.

"It would be great if we could come back down the road with all three points, the boys are all up for that and so is the manager.

"Michael Duberry and Jody Morris are a couple of really experienced players and we know that St Johnstone will be a difficult side to play.

"Outwith the Old Firm, I don't think that there is much to choose between the rest of the sides, even Dundee United and ourselves, who finished third and fourth last season, have not got off to the best of starts

"Hopefully, we can change that all over the coming weeks, though."

The Hibees have come in for some criticism in recent weeks after a disappointing run of results but they put in an encouraging performance against Celtic last weekend, despite losing 2-1 to Neil Lennon's men.

Derek Riordan scored an absolute peach of a goal in that game, somehow managing to chip the ball over 6ft 7in goalkeeper Fraser Forster, and McBride believes the striker can hold the key to Hibs' recovery.

He said: "There had been a bit of flak flying about in the last few weeks but, to be fair, I don't think that any of the boys have been reading too much into it and the manager hasn't let it affect him either.

"If I am being honest, I know that some of it has maybe been deserved but there is a lot of it that hasn't.

"If we had just managed to have scored a few of the chances that we have created over the last couple of weeks then I think that we could have been in a completely different position.

"Sometime things are just not to be, but we know that we will come good in the end.

"The fans have got every right to criticise us because they buy their tickets and they're not liking what they have seen so far but I think that if they were at Parkhead last Saturday then they will at least know it is going in the right direction.

"We are missing Ian Murray at the moment and obviously we have had one or two new faces come into the side as well and it all takes time for everyone to settle in.

"But I think that anyone watching the team in the last few weeks would see that we have had plenty of chances to kill teams off but we have just not been taking them.

"That will come for us, though, we have hardly played any games in the grand scheme of things. Some of the media have jumped on that and are on the players and the manager's back but you have got to expect that and get on with it.

"With players like Derek in the team, we know that we will get back on track, his goal against Celtic last weekend was a cracker and, hopefully, a few more chances will fall his way in the next while.

"The performance was there against Celtic, especially in the second half. We caused Celtic a lot of problems, even when they were 2-0 up, and we came right back into it when we scored our own goal.

"If we can take that kind of attitude into this weekend then it won't do us any harm.

"Once we get a good result under our belts then the confidence kicks right back in again and that can't come quickly enough."