Michael Weir: This Hibs team not daunted by biggest of games

I'm a bit disappointed that Hibs didn't hold on and beat Celtic on Saturday but it bodes really well that we were able to go to such a daunting arena and handle ourselves so well against a Champions League side.

Anthony Stokes shields the ball from Mikael Lustig during Hibs' 2-2 with Celtic. Pic: SNS

Going to Ibrox and Celtic Park are traditionally the biggest tests you’ll have playing in Scotland, and we’ve now taken four points from two visits to Glasgow this season. That shows, if there was any doubt, that we’re a team who can compete with literally any side in the country on our day.

We’ve got some real quality players at the moment who are used to playing in big games in big arenas, and the key thing on Saturday was that we had a real go at Celtic. There are frailties in every side, even the best ones, so the best way to play is always to be positive. If you sit off good teams, they’ll usually find a way through.

That performance and result should do wonders for the confidence of the team ahead of another three huge games against Aberdeen, Celtic again in the Betfred Cup, and Hearts. These players seem to relish the big games against the top teams, as they’ve shown plenty times in the past few years. We’ve got an exciting run of games in October, so hopefully we can kick on from Saturday’s match and get some more big results.

I think Saturday’s performance will probably increase the level of interest from other clubs in John McGinn. He’s always had potential, but that doesn’t always mean a player is going to fulfil it. In John’s case, it looks like he will because he’s improving all the time. Scoring goals is probably the main thing he has needed to add to his game, so getting a double in such a big game is a major step forward for him. He’s got everything in his locker, and he seems to be making the level of improvement most of us felt he was capable of. He’s shown he’s a man for the big occasion and I’m pretty sure he’ll be featuring in Gordon Strachan’s thoughts as he ponders his starting line-up for Scotland’s World Cup qualifier against Slovakia on Thursday. I certainly wouldn’t have any worries about pitching him in to such a big game on the back of his display at Celtic Park.