David Marshall is confident that Hibs are improving and being run ragged by Rangers won’t derail their top-six bid.
Lee Johnson’s side had gone in against Michael Beale’s side on a seven-game unbeaten run in the Premiership, which has helped them climb into the top four. Hibs were looking to give Rangers a run for their money but despite going ahead they were easily swatted away 4-1.
Easter Road captain Marshall said: “It was tough. We were excellent at the start of the game, got the goal, and then the penalty came so quickly. That took the wind out of our sails a little bit. And to be fair to Rangers they are in a good run of form and they played really well. I know it’s easy to say but all the goals were glaring individual errors and that’s the most disappointing thing.
“We’ve not played as well as we have done in the previous seven games. Everybody has to be an eight or nine out of 10 and individual errors cost us, and we came up against a good team.
" You’re always hopeful, especially at Easter Road when Celtic and Rangers come here that you can turn up and win the game. So there’s a bit of regret there that we haven’t played as well as we have done in recent games.”
Marshall was disappointed that the Hibs players couldn’t provide the same fitting tribute to late chairman Ron Gordon that the fans served up before the game. He added: “I’ve been in some atmospheres in my career, luckily, but that was pretty special.
“We were told to hold back until halfway through the song and I had a little mascot saying to me he was scared of the noise walking out. Then he burst into song in the tunnel, it was a pretty special tribute, the fans did the family proud but unfortunately we couldn’t back that up with the result.
“Regardless of what happens at the start of the game, once you get into the nitty gritty it just settles itself down. It certainly inspired the players in the first 10 minutes because it was a special noise and when the first goal went in we thought it was written in the stars. Unfortunately it was not to be.”
Hibs have a free weekend as they are out of the Scottish Cup and that will give them time to prepare for their next outing away to Celtic the following weekend. Johnson’s men got turned over 6-1 there earlier in the season but Marshall expects a reaction after Rangers.
The keeper claimed: “We’ve picked a good game to get back on the horse given it’s Parkhead, but we’re getting better. Everybody has to be realistic, we were disappointed with a lot of the performance against Rangers but there were times, especially at the start of the game, where we played well.
“Everyone is coming back to fitness, Kevin Nisbet and big Mykola (Kuharevich) both came on, so I certainly think we’re in a better place now than we were a few months ago.”
Marshall believes Hibs are now facing a mini run-in to guarantee themselves a top six place and a crack at Europe. They hold a four point advantage over seventh-placed Livingston. Hibs have Celtic, Motherwell, Dundee United, Hearts and St Johnstone before the split.
The former Scotland international stated: “We’ve spoken about it and we know we need to bounce back. We know there’s a gap to the Old Firm, we need to be realistic about that.
“But at Easter Road we expect to do better. We have five games before the split and it’s almost a mini run-in now, we need to put ourselves in a good position.
“We play Celtic next and then we don’t play again until April. I just prefer to play, you could argue that with the results, we just need to make sure we don’t let this affect us and bounce back because it’s almost a run-in now to the split.
“There are not a lot of points separating us from Livingston, Aberdeen, St Mirren, everyone is close, so we need to get ourselves into position going into the split. So it’s a strange time but we won’t be lacking confidence, the club is in a better position since the window closed.
“We just have to show it on the pitch and I am sure we have enough in us to have a good end to the season.”
