Hibs’ Head Coach Neil Lennon is hoping to carry on the momentum built up with three straight league wins when they face unbeaten Morton on Saturday at Easter Road.
The last time Jim Duffy brought his side through to Edinburgh, he came away with a shock victory against Alan Stubbs’ men which started a poor run for the club and allowed Rangers to run away with the league title and Falkirk to leapfrog Hibs into second place.
Lennon insists that another large crowd could make the difference this time.
Lennon told Hibernian TV: We want to carry on the momentum that we have slowly but surely built up. It will be a difficult game, Morton are unbeaten and the last time they came to Easter Road they had a good win and set us off on a bad run. We will be coming up against a team who will be motivated.
“They are unbeaten so that breeds confidence and they come here as the underdog with nothing to lose so that can give you an extra scent of motivation really. I think they are a difficult team to beat so the onus is on us to take the game to them whenever we can.
“We have to be very wary of the counter attacks as they have good pace in the team, but we are playing well and hopefully we will have another big crowd.
“The home crowd in any level of football is important. we had a tremendous turn out for the first game and that benefitted the players a great deal so we hope for more of the same on Saturday.
“It’s important to maintain this good start and I know how it can change very quickly so we are taking this game very seriously.
“It’s a league game and if we win it we are looking at other teams around us dropping points.
“It’s not an easy division. It’s competitive, and any team can beat any other team on any given day.”
Lennon also confirmed that the paperwork for goalkeeper Ofir Marciano has been approved and the Israeli international is now available for selection although he has not decided whether he will start tomorrow or whether Ross Laidlaw will retain the gloves.
He continued: “It’s been frustrating for Ofir (Marciano) but he knew he’d have to be patient and George (Craig) has done a great job getting the paperwork through.
“It’s a weight off his shoulders and we will discuss whether he will play over the next couple of days. If he is ready he will play but we have games coming up where we could blood him in but I will have a chat with Alan (Combe) the background team and Ofir on that.
“He was good in the under 20s game against Hearts and was comfortable and made some great saves in the second half. he made a mistake for their goal but I want him to make his mistakes in these matches. I’m sure his concentration levels will be much higher if he gets into the first team.”
Lennon also confirmed that injury victim “Fraser Fyvie will be in the squad: “Fraser (Fyvie) was on the bench last Saturday and got 90 minutes on Tuesday so he will definitely be in the squad but whether he starts? He’s not played a first team game since Motherwell but I know his qualities.”
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.
