Focus on the football, says Stevenson
Lewis Stevenson admits Hibs lack confidence.
But the Easter Road skipper insists Neil Lennon’s departure wasn’t the spark – because there was a dearth of belief even before he left.
The Hibees crashed at home to Aberdeen yesterday despite taking an early lead.
Caretaker boss Eddie May is likely to be in charge again against Celtic in midweek.
But Stevenson reckons the Hibees players can do themselves and their stand-in boss justice by focusing on football.
“We’re not going to use a lack of confidence as an excuse,” said Stevenson.
“It has probably been there all season, even when the manager was here.
“You want to get the right appointment so I don’t think they’ll rush into anything.
“But that’s nothing to do with us, we’ll just focus on what we need to do.
“In spells we did okay today, but overall it probably wasn’t good enough and maybe Aberdeen did deserve it.” After the testing circumstances surrounding Lennon’s departure, Stevenson insists the important thing is that the players stick together until the new manager is appointed.
“It’s difficult. We just need to stick together in the changing room,” he said. “We were all behind the old manager and we’ll all be behind the new manager when he comes in.
“But it makes it a lot easier when we win football matches. We just need to focus on that.
“Without a manager I still think we have the quality.
“Eddie and Grant set us up well today. We just need to take more responsibility and turn some OK performances into wins.”
On yesterday’s game, he added: “We created a few chances, but they were half-chances really. There was nothing clear-cut.
“I think probably all season we’ve needed to be better in the final third, and we still need to be better.
“But it comes from everyone, not just the strikers. The midfielders and the fullbacks as well, we need to create more quality for the strikers.”