Mickey Weir: One result over Hearts can alter everything for Hibs - but changes have to be made

Football can change very quickly. People forget that. Seven days is a very long time in football.

It's all doom and gloom now, and deservedly so. Hibs were outplayed for the vast majority of Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Tynecastle and as a result there isn’t a lot of confidence going into this one. But it can all change in a heartbeat.

That's the chaos of football. You've got one week were you've lost and it's an absolute disaster, everything is going wrong and then suddenly one result can change everything. I've been there. You can ask any footballer and he'll tell you the same. I've lost count the number of times it happened during my career. You get one big result – and they don't come much bigger than Saturday at Hampden against your local rivals – and suddenly the feeling around everything changes.

It if was to happen, the change would be unbelievable. That's just the way it is. It's what's football is all about. Everyone is feeling low because of last week's result but the euphoria would wipe that all away.

Chris Mueller and Chris Cadden react after Stephen Kingsley put Hearts 2-1 up at Tynecastle. Picture: SNS

These players will be desperate to put it right. The disappointment from the weekend should drive them on. They'll know, on both an individual and a team level, that if they can significantly contribute to a victory then they'll be fondly remembered by Hibs fans for years to come. They've showed in spells they're capable of doing it, they just need to do it on Saturday. They'll need to be ready.

The manager will need to make some changes to his team. It’s as simple as that. Shaun Maloney needs to look at trying to get as much experience into that team as possible. You need to strike the right balance of having both experience and younger legs. We didn’t have that at Tynecastle.

We can't go with the same personnel we had at the weekend, but I think the manager knows that. It's going to be difficult because there's not a whole lot there in reserve, what with the injuries and the make-up of the squad, but he has to try.

If you look at the side Hearts had at the weekend, they were a team full of experienced players. They've played at a good level for a long time, guys like Andy Halliday, Stephen Kingsley, Liam Boyce, Craig Gordon, all these types. You then look at us and, not only with young guys, but also another three or four who're both young and still learning what it takes to play for Hibernian Football Club, especially in a derby.

We just showed in the game at the weekend there that we're nowhere near where we need to be to challenge Hearts and other sides near the top of the table on a consistent basis. That has to change going forward. But for a one-off game it's just about trying to get the right team to compete. If we can do that then we can definitely win the game and get ourselves into a cup final.

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