Stubbs: Hibs have shown we can handle extra play-off pressure

Hibernian head coach Alan Stubbs believes his players have already proved they can handle the pressure and the workload of the play-offs.

Hibs will need to come through six games to reach the Ladbrokes Premiership – with the William Hill Scottish Cup final against Rangers thrown into the mix.

Their first opponents, Raith Rovers, go into tomorrow’s opening leg at Stark’s Park in much more relaxed mood having exceeded expectations by reaching the play-offs, while Hibs fans will demand their side achieve promotion.

The Leith side had pushed Rangers for the title until late February when they suffered a midweek loss to Morton, followed by three more league defeats before the end of March.

But Stubbs believes his side have learned from that period.

“You only have to look at from March onwards,” he said.

“We had eight games in April and a lot of games in March. And I think, once we got over that first impact in March, you have seen a real improvement in April.

“The players have adjusted to playing Saturday-Wednesday. They have had lots of games and we are unbeaten now in six.

“That tells you how they’ve adjusted and I think they have done really well.”

Stubbs added: “When you are at big clubs there is always a pressure and overall we have dealt with that well.

“We dealt with pressure going into making sure we were in a position to get into the play-offs. We did that a considerable amount of time ago. We dealt with pressure in getting to both finals.”

Hibs missed the chance to ensure a nine-day break when they failed to get the 4-0 win over Queen of the South on Sunday that they needed to leapfrog Falkirk.

Stubbs believes his players will take confidence from their 2-0 win over 10-man Queens.

“It’s not the end of the world that we have two extra games. We would have liked to have had two less but, in order to achieve what we want to achieve, if it’s six, it’s six.”

Hibees boss Alan Stubbs.