Lee Johnson admits the World Cup break has allowed him to solve some of Hibs' problems as they get ready to get their Premiership campaign back underway.
The Easter Road men warmed-up for their domestic return with Rangers on Thursday night at Ibrox with a friendly win over Scottish Championship side Raith Rovers in the capital. Josh Campbell's early goal sealed the confidence-boosting win with the capital boss delighted with the clean sheet and hard work on show from his men.
Kevin Nisbet has continued to get minutes into the legs over the break as he bids to make his competitive return to action after an extended period out injured while marque summer signing Aiden McGeady also appeared for the final 30 minutes in a major boost to the Leith outfit following the huge blow over Martin Boyle and his season-ending injury.
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Johnson has assured the hard graft behind the scenes will make his side 'quicker and slicker' and that the players have been working non stop to get things right after a poor run of form before the break that has ended with the Hibees sliding from third spot to eighth.
Speaking after the 1-0 success over Raith, the Hibs boss said: “We’ve done a lot of work behind the scenes to make us quicker and slicker. There’s an organisation throughout the club based on how we want to play and how the fans want to see us. It will take time, but I am very confident about the work that’s gone in.
"I can guarantee that a lot of people have been working very, very hard; that gives me a lot of confidence and is then portrayed in the team. We’ve worked a lot on the psychology of the players, which was evident against Raith Rovers. We got a clean sheet, which was good and breeds confidence, and was the focus of the day.
“[During the first half of the break for the World Cup] I was able to look at what we have done well, what we haven’t done well, where we have been unlucky, and where we should have been better. We’ve been able to solve some problems.
“We know we need to get better at some things and that we’re very good at other things. The longer time we can get together as a working team, both on and off the pitch, then that brings and breeds success. That’s very exciting about this football club.”
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