Hibs’ defender Lewis Stevenson insists that today’s game against Hamilton is even more important than last weekend’s victory over Rangers at Ibrox and he is anticipating a tough 90 minutes in front of a packed Easter Road.
Hibs sit joint top of the table after a 100% start and the fans go into the game in a confident mood but Stevenson is not getting carried away.
He said: “People have talked about how good a start we have made but it is just a start. You can judge us ten games in at Christmas time which will give is a good idea where we stand.
“We haven’t done anything yet. It is only two games in and this Saturday coming against Hamilton is just as important, maybe more important than the game last week.
“We know how important this game is and we will do our best to perform even better than we did at Ibrox
“Hamilton will come and think they can get a result, and quite rightly so. They got a good win last week so we know it is going to be tough.”
Stevenson was at the club when Hamilton won the 2014 play-off to gain promotion to the Premiership and consign Hibs to the Championship where they would spend three years.
The long-serving defender however is not looking for revenge and in fact had not realised that the teams hadn’t faced each other since.
He continued: “Somebody mentioned that the last time we played Hamilton was the play-off but it hadn’t entered my head. I am focusing on this game.
“Both clubs have come a long way since then and I don’t know how many players have played in those games but it never crossed my mind.
“I think everyone is pulling in the right direction now and we have good continuity in the squad.
“We can tell by season ticket sales that the club is in a stronger place now than it has been for the last 10 years or so.
“The manager has been brilliant for us. We now have a winning mentality. He hates losing and that has rubbed off on the players. We have a fear of losing now whereas in the past we had a fear of winning.”
Photo by John Preece
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.
