Hibs’ midfielder Andrew Shinnie says that the players have been working hard this week to prepare for the game against Falkirk at Easter Road after the disappointment of dropping two points against Dumbarton last week.

Hibs go into the game missing two important players, John McGinn and Ofir Marciano who are both on international duties.

Victory would make it very difficult for the Bairns to catch Hibs as they would be 10 points behind having played a game more but Shinnie insists that his team mates are taking it one game at a time.

He told Hibernian TV: “The squad are excited. We have trained well but we are disappointed about Saturday’s result, dropping a couple of points. The first half we didn’t put enough pressure on their defence and then we gave away cheap goals.

“We have worked really hard this week preparing for the game on Saturday and we are all ready for it.

“We expect to put in performances in every game and in certain games we have struggled in, but I know that we can do better. It can happen, but we need to try and eradicate them out of our game.

“We’re right up for the game and we’ll be right up for every game until the end of the season. We are never not up for a game.

“The manager’s banged on about one game at a time all season so the biggest game is your next game and we are focussing on Falkirk on Saturday.

“Falkirk are always a good team who can pass the ball. They have good individual players who can hurt you on the day but it’s just a case of trying to dominate the game and put as much pressure on them as we can and be tight at the back.”

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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.