HIBS KNOW NO FEAR, INSISTS STUBBS

HIBERNIAN manager Alan Stubbs has warned Rangers that his side are at peak confidence and readiness ahead of their crunch Championship meeting at Ibrox. The Easter Road club, eight points adrift of Mark Warburton’s men at the start of last month, moved level at the top of the table through Saturday’s last-minute win over Queen of the South. Rangers had earlier lost 2-1 to third-placed Falkirk to leave them with just eight points from the last 18 available. A defeat at Easter Road started that sequence, with Hibs having now won 15 times and drawn twice in 17 games since losing 1-0 at Ibrox in August. And Stubbs believes his players are brimful of confidence as they seek a victory that would knock Rangers off the Championship summit for the first time this season. ‘They are because, to be honest, I don’t even know how many games it is, but they have been gaining and gaining confidence from the weeks that have gone past,’ he said. ‘That’s 17 or 18 games that we are unbeaten now. ‘If you’re not confident after that, then I’m afraid you are never going to be.’ The former Everton coach has been involved in some verbal sparring with Warburton over the course of the season to date. The Scouser did not seek to play

down the significance of the December 28 game, but insisted it was too early in the season to be pivotal. ‘I’m not going to try to deny it and say it’s just another three points,’ the former Bolton and Celtic defender told Hibs TV. ‘It’s a big game. It really is. It’s not going to decide anything, that’s important to say, but I think it will have a psychological effect. ‘It would give a team an impetus coming out of the game, whether that’s a spring in their step or whether it’s a little more confidence, only time will tell. ‘But what I can say is that we’ll be ready for it.’ Meanwhile, legendary Easter Road figure Jackie McNamara senior believes Rangers could crack under the pressure of playing catch-up if they lose to Hibs at Ibrox on Monday. ‘We know how the Rangers fans will react if Hibs win,’ he claimed. ‘They’ll regard it as a crisis and they could be right. ‘They were rolling along nicely at the start of the season, winning every week and everyone was telling us and them that they were the be-all and end-all in this division. ‘It will be interesting to see how the manager and players cope with adversity. ‘They’re only human, after all, and if Hibs score first on Monday then the nervous tension from the crowd will get to them.’ Warburton insists there will be no changes when it comes to his tactics — and that the only Plan B is to do Plan A better — but McNamara, who made almost 300 appearances for Hibs and served as assistant manager with the club, believes opponents have now worked out how to combat the Rangers threat. ‘It’s possible that the novelty of facing players like James Tavernier and Martyn Waghorn has worn off,’ said the father of the former Celtic and Scotland international Jackie junior. ‘The other Championship clubs have got wise to the way that they play and you saw what St Johnstone did to them at Ibrox in the League Cup.’