Michael Weir: Hibs can head into break on real high

I don’t think anyone would have predicted just how the top flight looks going into October, and the signs are that this is going to be a much tougher league than we’ve had for years.

Hibs and Hearts have strengthened, Rangers are getting better, Celtic will always be up there and both Aberdeen and Kilmarnock look decent.

However, the big surprise has been Livingston. Everyone has probably been looking for their bubble to burst and yet they’ve continued to get impressive results, their win over Rangers at the weekend perhaps putting a slightly different complexion on Hibs’ defeat at the Tony Macaroni Arena, one which provoked all sorts of doom and gloom.

Since then, though, Neil Lennon has got his players performing and I thought it was a travesty that they went out of the Betfred Cup on penalties to Aberdeen given the performance they’d put in, but that’s cup football.

They didn’t reach such heights against St Mirren in Paisley but despite having expended a lot of energy in those two hours in midweek, they managed to grind out a third successive league win to put them into second place. To me, the start of the season is all about getting the results, building confidence and credit to Neil’s players for digging in to get that narrow win.

Hibs are currently on a run in which they’re facing three of the teams at the wrong end of the table in successive weeks and, having seen off Dundee and St Mirren, the visit of Hamilton will be no less tricky.

Hamilton have been a bit unpredictable but they always seem to pull out a result when needed which makes this a dangerous game. They do have good players even if they lack that bit of consistency and no-one will need reminding of how they came to Easter Road early last season when Hibs were going so well and won.

But it’s a great chance to be heading into the international break on a real high.