Hibs stars shelved the tin helmets at their team meeting this week. But Joe Newell admits Lee Johnson’s troops are a long way from breaking out the party hats as they look to get their season back on song.
The midfielder reckons the Hibees are miles away from where they want to be but hopes Sunday’s 3-2 win at Motherwell that moved them to within a point of the top six can be the turning point. Boss Johnson referred to the no-holds barred ’full stop meeting’ he held with his players in the wake of the 3-0 derby defeat at Hearts as a line in the sand.
And Newell views three successive home games - starting with today’s clash with Dundee United followed by the Scottish Cup clash with Hearts and the visit of Aberdeen - as a chance for Hibs to finally get back in the swing and ensure the tin hats remain on the shelf. He said: “The meetings happen all the time, it’s just whether they’re good or bad, that’s the difference.
“The bad weeks everyone is at the back row with tin hats on, the good weeks everyone is at the front. In terms of this week we’re not going to get carried away, we’ve beaten Motherwell 3-2.
“It’s not like we’ve gone to Ibrox and won 5-0, it’s not party season yet. We’ve done our job We’re still miles away from where we want to be. It’s nice to have a positive week, but that’s what we should be doing, really.”
Win their next three games - against United, Hearts and Aberdeen - and Newell admits suddenly the sunshine is very much back on Leith. He said: “That’s what we have got to look at.
“Beat Motherwell, win against Dundee United, beat Hearts in the cup, win against Aberdeen, then it’s like: ‘Here we go’. We can finally get going.
“It’s there for us and it’s achievable as well, it’s not out of the equation. It’s something we know we’re more than capable of.
“That’s the craziness of the league. I always look back at how we missed the split last year. We were on a horrendous run of form but we went to Hearts and if we had won there we’d have got in the top six.
“So you look at the results and wonder how we didn’t nick a win here and a draw there. It’s so tight. You put two wins together in the league you go up two, three, four places.”
Newell reckons Hibs need to rediscover the ability to grind out results and be hard to beat - a key element when they finished third two seasons ago. The 3-2 defeat at Rangers last month - where Hibs led 2-1 at the break - was a good example.
But Newell said: “When you go to the Old Firm it’s more or less a free hit because no-one expects you to get anything. So, when you do it’s obviously amazing.
“But the other games are your bread and butter in terms of where we want to be. Going back to the season where we finished third, a big quality of ours as a team was we ground out results and were hard to beat and we went away and didn’t play that well but would win 1-0.
“That’s where we need to get back to a little bit..”
Nevertheless Newell reckons confidence is starting to flow through the team again ahead of a crucial run of games, especially with fit-again Kevin Nisbet banging in the goals. He said: “At home, I feel like we always start really well. Even away from home, we tend to start games well.
“Dundee United are a good side and they’re a team and a squad who are a lot better than where they are in the league and what they’ve done so far this season. It’s about being resolute, a clean sheet would be nice, and then Nizzy scoring another hat-trick!
“The first goal is important. If you’d asked me two or three weeks ago, I think it would have been even more so, because with the run you’re on then mentally if you go a goal down it can be, ‘oh, here we go again’. But the confidence has been lifted a bit.
“It would be nice to score first but, at home, even if they did score first, I don’t think it would affect us as much now. We’ve added quality, without even buying anyone. We’ve just got good lads back, that’s all it is.
“I feel that’s honestly been the case for the last 18 months, really. If you look back at last January, Nizzy, Boyley and Doidgey were scoring all our goals in the season we had done well and then the next season injuries and sales and lack of form all contributes.”
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