HIBS HAVE GOT WHAT IT TAKES
NERVOUS Hibs fans arrived at Westfield on Saturday, questioning whether their side would blow it once more against bogey team Falkirk. Ninety minutes later, however, 3,500 happy Hibees were left hoping for more of the same.
Whatever method Alan Stubbs used to ease his team’s big-game anxieties, Hibs’ return to the Premiership is now dependent on whether the Liverpudlian can replicate it for the play-offs.
At Falkirk, with second place at stake, Hibs were calm from start to finish against the team that had won three out of their four encounters this season.
The i mpressive Martin Boyle cracked Stubbs’ men i nto a fifth-minute lead and they never looked back.
Even when news filtered through that closest rivals Rangers were 2-0 ahead at Tynecastle, the response to that pressure was swift and ruthless, Jason Cummings clipping home on 40 minutes to effectively put the game beyond the Bairns.
Dominique Malong a grabbed a third after the break as his team strolled home to earn the right to a brief sunshine break while Rangers and Queen of the South contest the quarter-final.
It was a display that left one Hibs fan in particular, Leigh Griffiths, with a beaming smile on his face; one that would widen hours later as his Celtic side clinched the title courtesy of Aberdeen’s 1-0 defeat at Tannadice.
For Hibs midfielder Scott Robertson, this performance and result was proof that his team have the requisite blend of style and substance to negotiate the end-of-season matches.
‘ We’ve shown i n certain games this season that we have the steel and the grit to do it,’ said the 30-year-old.
‘There were question marks hanging over us before this game, people asking if we could perform on a day like the one at Falkirk, so the lads deserve great credit for doing it.
‘We heard all the talk about Falkirk being our bogey side but we knew what we had to do. We had our fate in our own hands and we got over the line.
‘I think we can now have great confidence for what lies ahead. I wasn’t nervous before the match. We were all confident but without being arrogant. We were looking forward to the game because we feel it’s an exciting time right now.’
For Hibs, Scott Allan was once more at the heart of all his team’s best moves.
But one note of caution for Stubbs will have been his s i de’s i nability to deal comfortably with cross balls; as caustically pointed out by Falkirk boss Peter Houston after his side’s 1-0 Scottish Cup semi- final victory at Hampden last month.
There was no fresh outbreak of the hostilities between the managers, but while Houston afterwards declared Hibs the best footballing side in the play-offs, he pointedly added: ‘It will come down to bottle and who handles it better. Rangers have a big- club mentality and the players to cope.’
As a member of the Hibs squad that went down last season against Hamilton, Robertson knows all about the perils of the play-offs.
He said: ‘We will need to have a bit of steel about us because whoever we face in the semi will be eager to get to the final. And if we get there, it will be even more difficult.
‘Some people might use that (Hamilton defeat last year) as motivation. It was a major low point, but I would like to think we can end this season on a major positive.’