"Ambition for the club is huge”: Hibs manager targets Hearts and has eyes on top three

Hibs manager Dean Gibson is challenging his team to close the gap on the top three in 2023 is taking the Scottish Cup seriously.
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The Edinburgh side are fifth in SWPL1 after a steady first half of the season and are aiming to catch Hearts, who are one place and seven points ahead. However, Gibson wants to raise the club’s aspirations even further.

“The ambition for the club is huge”, Gibson told the Edinburgh Evening News. “We have a lot and we need to start that journey now. The ambition runs longer than just the next six months of the season. But for the next six months are aim is to reduce the gap on Hearts and if we can do that we, then look to reduce the gap on Celtic. At the same time, we are still in a cup so how far can we go in that. We have a lot to play for. Winning the league this year was always going to be hard.”

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There are only five points separating the four teams bunched from fifth to eigth in the table. Spartans and Motherwell also possess games in hand on Hibs. As the league split comes ever closer, the next two months are important. Hibs struggled in front of goal in the first half of the season, but Gibson now has new strikers in Brooke Nunn and Katie Lockwood and watched his team beat Spartans 3-0 in the Scottish Cup on Sunday to earn a last-16 meeting with East Fife.

Hibs have big ambitions to grow. Picture: Craig Foy / SNSHibs have big ambitions to grow. Picture: Craig Foy / SNS
Hibs have big ambitions to grow. Picture: Craig Foy / SNS

“We haven’t missed any of our targets so far,” added Ginson. “We got to the final of the League Cup, so that’s one objective ticked off. Can we do the same in the Scottish Cup? Fourth place in the SWPL1 is probably the benchmark this year, but if we get there can we close the gap on third to a lesser points total than last season?

“Every cup is important, I don’t see the League Cup as any less in importance than the Scottish Cup. We want to compete in everything and the only way we can do that is by treating it seriously and giving the cups the respect they deserve.”