I’d been Hibee a week but still felt fans’ pain at loss
Jason Naismith had only been on loan at Easter Road a week when he suffered a derby defeat – but he still feels the pain like a true Hibee three months on.
The ful l- back insists Jack Ross’ men owe their support a win at Tynecastle on Boxing Day.
He wants to atone not just for losing September’s smash- and- grab to the Jambos but for Hibs’ woeful show in their 3- 0 home defeat to Rangers on Friday night.
The on-loan Peterborough defender said: “You could say it’s the perfect game to go into now and we need to right a few wrongs from that fixture earlier in the season.
“That’s still on our minds and we need to go there and win – it’s as simple as that.
“The last one? Aye, it does hurt. Losing any derby hurts but we want to make amends for that big time.
“That was just my second game for the club but that doesn’t make it hurt less.
“All the boys feel the same and we’ll be looking to put that right with three points.
“Not that it’ll give us a clean slate after Friday night though – the fans weren’t happy and rightly so.
“The way we played, especially in the first half, wasn’t good enough.
“Listen, we didn’t help ourselves and when you don’t help yourselves and Rangers have got their tails up then it’s always going to be a difficult night.
“Rangers were on top of their game and that’s the worst we’ve played in a long time. That’s obviously a recipe for disaster and they took full advantage.
“The game was almost done and dusted after about seven minutes.
“It was bitterly disappointing from us to start like that and it’s something we will look at now going into the derby.
“There are six big points to play for this week, though, and we want to be in a good position going into the winter break.”
What will make it an even harder day on Thursday will be the absence of stopper Ryan Porteous.
He was suspended for a red- card shocker on Borna Barisic 60 minutes in with the game done and dusted.
The 2 0 - y e a r - o l d ’ s aggression is a big part of his game but it cost him dear and Naismith added: “A few of the guys have spoken to him in the changing room – he’ll be all right.
“We move on and we have plenty of depth in the squad.
“We saw that with big Darren McGregor coming on and we have quality with him and Adam Jackson, so it won’t be a problem.”
Naismith admits Hibs are raw after back-to-back beatdowns from the Old Firm – but he insists they can’t take them to heart.
He said: “Rangers blew us away although we helped with the goals we gave away.
“That being said, they are an exceptional team.
“The Old Firm sides are levels ahead of everyone else in this league, if I’m being honest.
“Fair play to them, that’s the standards they set probably every day.
“Even in Europe, Rangers are outplaying teams like Porto home and away. It shows the calibre of team we’ve come up against.”