Hibs head coach David Gray says his players can’t dwell on the Motherwell defeat when his side take on Celtic on Sunday.
Hibs have performed well against the Hoops in recent William Hill Premiership meetings picking up four points from the last three.
The last meeting at Easter Road Stadium saw Gray’s side run out 2-1 winners, and earlier this season Hibs held Celtic to a 0-0 draw.
When speaking ahead of this one, Gray stressed the importance of the players’ positive mentality.
“Belief is the key word for me. You need to demonstrate the belief that you can go into the game and win.
“When you think to the 0-0, we weren’t as free-flowing going forward as we have been, but defensively we were very good.
“I certainly think we will carry more of a threat at the weekend. We will give the players the game-plan that gives us the best possible chance to win the game.
“We can’t dwell on Tuesday night’s result. Everyone has said their piece, now we look at how we can bounce back. For me, there’s no better game to do that than at home against Celtic.
“It’s a real difficult test, but one that the players should look forward too. They should take confidence from some of the performances we’ve put in against Celtic recently, and it’ll be a big crowd at Easter Road and a brilliant atmosphere that the players should thrive on.”
Celtic currently sit second in the William Hill Premiership table and are five points ahead of the Hibs. They’ve performed well under interim manager Martin O’Neill, who is reportedly taking his last game for the Glasgow-side this weekend.
“They’ve had some very positive results recently. Celtic is always a test no matter who the manager or coaching staff are.
“They have very good players that are used to winning games of football, so we know the challenge will be there.
“If it is Martin O’Neill’s last game in charge, then we want to make sure it doesn’t end on a high.
“The challenge for us is to make sure we start the game as well as we can on the front-foot, and put Tuesday night right.”
In terms of team news, Gray will have a similar squad available to him from Tuesday evening, with Josh Campbell also returning.
“Junior Hoilett has picked up a little niggle on international duty, and it hasn’t quite gone away. Junior has said he’s fine and wants to play, but we sent him for a precautionary scan, and the medical advice was that we took him out the group for a week.
“Other than him and Rudi, everyone else is back and available.”
