Alan Stubbs praises Arbroath as Hibs march into Scottish Cup quarter finals

Hibs’ Head Coach Alan Stubbs praised yesterday’s opponents Arbroath who put up a brave fight against his side, particularly in the first half, before eventually losing out by three goals to one at Easter Road.

Speaking immediately after the game, Stubbs said: “In the end you have to give credit to Arbroath. They are a good team and they came and had a good go at us and I commend them for that. They played two up and matched us for that.

“On the break they looked a threat but I thought that we just had to make sure that we kept trusting ourselves to do the right thing more often than not.

“I think eventually that paid off for us.

“We scored at an important time of the game which settled everybody down coming into half time and it was just a matter of reinforcing that we just had to keep on passing the ball a little bit quicker than we had done in periods of the game and we would get opportunities and that proved to be the point.”

With Hibs a goal down, they were denied a perfectly good goal by referee Andrew Dallas when Dja Djedje was wrongly adjudged to have fouled the Arbroath keeper but Stubbs was philosophical about the incident.

He continued: “JJ raised his foot but I think the main contact was from his own player. It was unfortunate but I’m just glad that it had no bearing on the game whatsoever.”

Another pleasing aspect of the game was the performances of the two starting debutants Fraser Fyvie and Franck Dja Djedje as well as the return to action for David Gray.“I was delighted that Fraser (Fyvie) and JJ (Dja Djedje) managed the full 90 minutes which will do them both the world of good. JJ was behind everyone fitness wise and he has had 45 minutes then 90 today and he will get better with each game.

“ It’s the same with Fraser. He has had a few games but not at that level and what I saw today was very promising and he can be happy with his first 90 minutes in a Hibs’ shirt.

“It’s always good when you get your top players coning back and David (Gray) comes into the category and even if he didn’t have the same impact that he has had all season I think the most important thing is that he has come through the game.

“He will benefit from the minutes on the pitch greatly.

With only three top flight teams left in the tournament, there is a confident mood amongst the fans, but Stubbs isn’t getting carried away: “We are waiting in anticipation for the cup draw on Monday and we will see who we get but I am delighted that I will be watching the draw in anticipation as to who we are getting and not who we might have got.”