Hibs’ Head Coach Neil Lennon is expecting a tough game against a rejuvenated Kilmarnock at Rugby Park tonight.
Former EPL manager Steve Clarke took over from Lee McCulloch after a poor start to the season and his first two games in charge have been draws against Rangers and Celtic in Glasgow.
Hibs however have also played both teams away from home and secured a win at Ibrox and a point at Celtic Park so Lennon and his players will go into the game quietly confident on the back of two victories against Hearts and on-form Motherwell.
Speaking ahead of the game, Lennon said: “We’ve been playing well, even in the dip when we were drawing games so that has pleased me more than anything.
“The consistency of performance has been excellent and I think we were due to get what e deserved and that’s what happened in the past two games.
“We handled Motherwell pretty well. They are a difficult opponent and we thoroughly deserved the win.
“Kilmarnock on the back of two draws in Glasgow is pretty special. Steven Clarke shows the calibre of manager you get in Scotland. I even saw him smile the other day. It’s going to be a difficult game for us.
“The team got a bit of a lift with the new manager coming in and they have had two fantastic results away from home at the toughest venues you can get in Scotland and that will breed confidence.
“Steve has got them organised and playing with belief. They scored a good goal at the weekend and they have some talent.
“We won’t be going there over confident but at the same time we will be quietly confident.
“Anthony (Stokes) trained on Monday but he is not ready. He is still feeling the ankle which is a blow because we were hoping he wound come through and Danny (Swanson) had a reaction as well. Both of them won’t make the game so it’s pretty much as you were.”
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.
