Hibs aim to make most of 'second chance' with key men back for Cup clash

Lewis Miller was front and centre at training this morning. | SNS Group

Hibs boss David Gray has urged his players to make the most of their “second chance” in tomorrow’s make-or-break Cup clash at Easter Road. And he’ll welcome two important figures back into the side as the hosts attempt to put the bite on underdogs Peterhead.

Almost a week on from the humiliating Premier Sports Cup loss to Kelty in Fife, Hibs still have an opportunity to finish top of Group C and secure their place in the last 16, courtesy of a home win tomorrow. Rookie manager Gray, asked if the shock defeat had knocked any complacency out of a group who had cruised through their opening two fixtures of the season with 10 goals scored and just one conceded, declared: “One hundred percent. You can't expect to win every game and it's how you then go and react to that.

“I thought we were fortunate that it's the group stages. If that had just been a straight-out cup competition, we'd be out of the cup.

“So we have got a second chance, if you want to call it that, with things in our hands going into the game at the weekend against Peterhead. But as you've already touched on there, it's definitely not going to be plain sailing all the time, you need to be at the level all the time.

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“And it's a sharp reminder to everybody involved that if we're not at the level and we drop our standards slightly that these things can happen. And we need to guard against it.

“The players have got the bit between their teeth a bit at the moment. Obviously after last weekend they needed a positive reaction, which we got on Monday coming into training.

“I think the important thing is to trust what you're doing every day. There will be times when you win games and lose games - and it's about believing in what you're doing every single day.

“Players certainly felt that way on Monday, coming back in. We'll never accept losing the game we lost at the weekend. But at the same time as I said there was a lot of positives within the game. “So it's focusing on that, it's focusing on worrying about things we can affect. We can't affect outside noise. We can't affect what people are talking about.

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“But I have reminded the players that, every time you play for such a big club, you're always being judged. It's up to you to be the best version of yourself - and myself and my staff are included in that. I's important that we get to that level of consistency quickly and we're all geared up now, ready to go to make sure we get a positive result tomorrow.”

While Chris Cadden and Elie Youan remain unavailable because of injury, first-choice goalkeeper Josef Bursik and Australian right back Lewis Miller have recovered, Gray explaining their absence from the midweek friendly against Watford by saying: “Just because they had impact injuries, we didn't want to take a risk on them and get another bang on that. But they're absolutely fine and they'll come back into the squad tomorrow. so it'll be the same again.”