Hibs 'need European football to keep growing', says midfielder

Depending on how results go on Wednesday, Hibs’ trip to Tynecastle to face rivals Hearts on the final day of the season could be a straight shoot-out for fourth place and guaranteed European football.

Steven Naismith’s side travel to Ibrox to face Rangers in midweek while Hibs host Celtic in the penultimate round of fixtures. A point for Lee Johnson’s side would be helpful; a win even more so. But what of St Mirren’s trip to Pittodrie to face Aberdeen? The Buddies came close to consecutive wins against Hearts and Celtic and are still very much in the mix. Fifth place might be enough to secure continental matches next season provided Celtic win the Scottish Cup but the battle for third, fourth, and fifth will go down to the wire.

Speaking after Sunday’s defeat by Rangers, midfielder Jimmy Jeggo said: “A club like Hibs has to be in Europe. We are all well aware of the expectation – as players, that’s where we want to be. There are two really big games coming up and it is going to be difficult. It is a big advantage to the team having European football. It provides us with more chances to grow and to get better. But the gaffer is clear we are building and there is another window coming up.”

With experience of European football at previous clubs, Jeggo is hopeful of returning there with the Easter Road side – and insists morale in the camp is still high despite the meek reversal just past.

Jimmy Jeggo of Hibs challenges for an aerial ball with Rangers' Ianis Hagi during the 3-1 defeat at Easter Road on Sunday

“After every game, even performances when you play well and win, there are things you have to improve on and that is always the focus. We know where we are as a team and we want to keep building. We feel that over the last couple of weeks we have taken a step forward and it is about continuing that,” he added.

"It is that time of the season where there is no point getting too down about things. We know we have to go out there in the next couple of games and do a job. We know it is going to be difficult, but we are ready for that. There is still an overriding sense of confidence in the team that we can do what we need to do to get a European place.”

Jeggo expects a similar test on Wednesday night when Celtic are the visitors to the Capital but stressed the need for improvements to avoid a repeat result.

“Obviously we lost 3-1 so we don’t want to be saying, ‘that was really good’. But there were positives in the performance against Rangers,” he continued. “The big moments went against us in terms of conceding goals and not taking our chances. There were also a lot of situations in the first half when we broke well and maybe didn’t make the right decision or the final pass wasn’t there. It is up to us to keep getting closer and closer to them. There are still a lot of things we need to improve when it comes to these types of games to get a little bit closer. But we are at that stage in the season where we need results.”