STUBBS EXCITED BY KEY TRIO OF GAMES
HIBS boss Alan Stubbs believes the next three matches will have a huge bearing on the health of his side’s Championship title aspirations. A crucial run of fixtures will pit the Easter Road outfit, currently sitting 11 points behind leaders Rangers in third place, against their fellow league rivals in the top four. The first challenge comes with their game in hand — tonight’s rearranged trip to Falkirk. Raith Rovers then host Hibs on Saturday before the eagerlyawaited televised visit of Rangers in Leith on November 1. Although Stubbs admits the success of their season will not be decided in the next fortnight, he does concede they are facing a critical spell in the campaign. ‘The next three games will give us a better indication,’ said Stubbs, whose side have won seven of their last eight matches in all competitions. ‘I don’t think it will define how the season is going to go but it will give us an indication of how potentially it’s going to unfold. That would probably be the best way to describe it. ‘People say we have a challenging run of fixtures coming up — I think it’s a really exciting one. ‘It tells us where we are. We’ve got Falkirk, Raith Rovers, Rangers then Dundee United in the League Cup. For me, that’s great. ‘We’re winning games of football. We’ve been very good since our first two games and that’s what we need to keep doing.’ Meanwhile, Falkirk manager Peter Houston has set his side the target of reaching 60 points this season — a tally he believes will secure them a promotion play-off place. He said: ‘We haven’t even completed our first quarter but after the first eight games, before Saturday’s win against Morton, we had 15 points. ‘Forgetting about the Hibs game, which finishes the quarter, if we were to take 15 points per quarter then we would take 60 points — and 60 points gets a play-off place.’