Pat Fenlon warns Hibs that Dundee will put up a fight tomorrow

The Easter Road outfit won their last clash with the Dens Park men at a canter, putting three past Rab Douglas without reply at the beginning of October at Easter Road.

While that win was relatively straightforward though, Fenlon believes that his players will have to fight tooth and nail for the points this time around.

Fenlon said: “We played them here and we won fairly well but up until the first goal there wasn’t a lot in it. We watched their last two games and they’ve got decent results. They’re on a good run and they’ve got a bit of solidity about them.

“We are under no illusions that we are going to go up there and get the points without having to work – so working hard is what we will do.

“They will see a sniff of getting closer. It’s like us last season when we won a game and were trying to win a few more to close that gap and in fairness to Dundee they could have let their heads go down and thought that they shouldn’t have been in the league anyway (after Rangers) but they haven’t done that, to their credit, and they’ve worked to come back into contention and they’ve done that well.”

Meanwhile, Fenlon said he has been delighted to see Leigh Griffiths finally given his chance at full international level, having won his first senior cap for Scotland earlier this week in the friendly against Luxembourg.

The Easter Road boss knows that his striker’s fine form may make it more difficult to keep him at Hibs but is pleased to see him reap the rewards for the hard work he has put in since his move to Edinburgh.

He continued: “When you’re managing players every day you want to see them progress. He’s a great character and I’m delighted he’s had a little bit of reward. He’s had enough problems and enough stick in his career so a little bit of happiness for him is tremendous.

“He loves playing football. He gets his enjoyment on the pitch and in training. I tell him if he does his talking on the park he will get what he deserves.

“Other clubs will be looking at Leigh which is a minus but there’s pluses to that too. We want to attract players here and with Leigh getting capped and Ryan McGivern coming here from Manchester City, a massive club, and playing in the SPL and getting international recognition, it’s a great carrot for other players to come to the club.”