Michael Weir: Pressure is starting to pile on Hibs

Jason Cummings (35) celebrates having scored the equaliser. Picture: SNS

It was certainly two points dropped for us because although they are a good side, these are the type of games we’ve got to be looking to win if we want to win this league.

We could have nicked it in the end, but I think a draw was probably a fair result because we didn’t do enough to win the game. We didn’t play well in the first half and Falkirk deserved to go in front. It was only really after they scored that we stepped things up and started to dominate.

It was a better point for Falkirk than it was for us, but Rangers will be the happiest out of everyone because they’ve extended their lead at the top. That’s twice in the past few weeks that we’ve fallen flat in big games against teams close to us, and it’s becoming a concern. We’ve shown we’re perfectly capable of beating most teams in the league, but we need to start winning the high-stakes matches now if we’re serious about achieving our goals. The pressure is really starting to pile on now and it’s not getting any easier because we’ve got a hard run of games coming up, with the two cup matches against St Johnstone and Hearts and a few midweek league games in between. It’s going to be a real test of the squad and of our character.

It’s imperative that we get back on track against St Mirren on Saturday. In the first half of the season, we had plenty margin for error because there was still such a long way to go, but we’re now getting towards the stage where we can’t afford many more slip-ups as we can’t let the gap get bigger than five points.

The arrival of Anthony Stokes has come at a good time for us because it looks like we’re needing a wee bit of fresh impetus for the rest of the season. There’s no doubt he’s got the quality to do well in this league. My one worry is that it might take a bit of time before he is able to make a real impact because he’s not played for five months. That’s a long time to go without first-team football so it’s unlikely that he’ll be ready to hit the ground running. He’s certainly a good signing for us though.