Hibs’ Head Coach Alan Stubbs praised his team’s performance following the 2-1 Petrofac Training Cup defeat at Rangers and believes the team are on the right track heading into Saturday’s Scottish Championship opener against Livingston at Easter Road (9 August, kick off 3pm).
Speaking to Hibs TV’s YouTube Channel, Stubbs said: “There were an awful lot of positives from the game. I’ve told the players they won’t experience that losing feeling too many times if they play like that.
“I don’t want us to lose games, but play well. But I know for a fact that if we perform like that then we are going to win a lot of games this season.
“There was disappointment in the dressing room after the game and, for me, that’s good to see because it means it hurts and it shows the players really care.
“They’re disappointed because they know their effort should have been rewarded; unfortunately it wasn’t.
“Now we move on to Saturday and the Scottish Championship is the main focus of our season.
“If we can do well in Cup competitions then that will be fantastic, but our main aim for the season is to finish as high as we can.
“Going by the performance at Ibrox, things are starting to look positive on the pitch.
“The performance answered a lot of questions. The players have gone through a really disappointing nine months.
“But to show the courage to come to Ibrox and to take the game to them means the players deserve an awful lot of credit.
“All I’ve done is talk to them, give them direction and give them belief, so that they’re not afraid to make mistakes.
“We know we’ve got a long way to go, but slowly and surely we’re taking steps in the right direction.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
