Hibs coaching staff fire message to squad ahead of key league fixtures

John Potter, left, and Jack Ross during Hibs' win over BSC Glasgow. Pic: SNS

Hibs assistant head coach John Potter has urged the Easter Road squad to forget dreaming of Scottish Cup glory and concentrate on cementing their place in the Premiership’s top six.

A favourable quarter-final draw pitching Hibs at home against Inverness Caledonian Thistle, the lowest ranked club remaining in the competition, has given them an outstanding chance of progressing into the last four.

But while sharing the hope that his side can “go all the way”, Potter insisted everyone also has to be mindful that although Hibs currently sit sixth in the table, that place is under threat making the three league games - starting with tomorrow night’s visit from Ross County - before Caley come calling crucial.

He said: “We want to get as high as we can in the league. We have had a few draws recently, a few indifferent performances and we have been a bit up and down.

“There’s been some good stuff, some stuff that can be better. We have a couple of big games coming up and they are games we will be looking to go and try and win to get us higher up the league.”

Kilmarnock - hosts to Hibs on Sunday - have closed to within a point and with St Johnstone now just three behind, Potter keen not only to hold them at bay but to start closing on the teams above.

He said: “The league has tightened up. Teams will hit bits of form and the way it is a couple of wins here and there can lift you in the league. We are still looking ahead of us, but we realise we are a target for other teams to try and catch.

“We want to cement our place in the top six and try and get as high as we can. We can only do that by winning games.”

Potter believes Hibs’ January transfer manoeuvres have resulted in a stronger and more competitive squad, predicting Marc McNulty’s hat-trick in Sunday’s 4-1 defeat of BSC Glasgow will provide the spark for the striker, back at the club for a second loan spell.

Agreeing that in the main Hibs have done “pretty well” since head coach Jack Ross succeeded Paul Heckingbottom three months ago, the head coach’s right-hand man said: “There have been little bits that can be better, maybe halves of football that can be better, but we are working on that all the time.

“We worked hard to bring in a few in January and we now feel we have a competitive squad, it is just about getting our ideas across and the players going on and winning games.

“When they are out there on the pitch they are the ones that our out there doing, they are the ones seeing things and hopefully we have enough good players - we feel we have - to go and win games.”

Potter feels the addition of McNulty, who worked with him and Ross at Sunderland earlier in the season, and on loan Rangers midfielder Greg Docherty will help bring the goals which can drive Hibs further up the table.

He said: “Marc is confident, if he is on the pitch he will score goals. He will need to catch up fitness-wise, sharpness-wise because he has not played a lot of football. We know if we can get him on the pitch he will score goals because he is a good finisher.

“Greg’s determined to get round about the box and score goals. He brings an energy and drive. He gets around the pitch, he can play in about three, four five positions and do quite well in all of them.

“As I say, we think we had good players here when we came in, hopefully we have added a few more. If we can keep them together and keep working well then hopefully we can win games.”