Lee Johnson was thrilled after his Hibernian side took a significant step forward in their bid for European football next season with a 4-1 victory at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
The visitors found themselves trailing early on to Joel Nouble’s well-taken opener but the men from Leith responded in fine fashion, scoring four goals without conceding any to gain a valuable three points.
It leaves Hibs in fourth place, five points behind Edinburgh rivals Hearts in third – a remarkable change in fortunes, given Johnson was involved in a match billed as ‘El Sackico’ barely a month ago.
“Sometimes you need to go through the sticky spells,” said the Hibs manager. “It's part of our journey.
“This club is one we have to do up; we've got to make better decisions than have been made before. I felt there were still signs of performance levels towards the end of the bad run and we've won big this year.
“There’s been some big results. The steeliness of the side has probably been bolstered by not just new personnel but returning players as well and the way we've turned the dial in terms of our expansive nature.
“Of course Europe is in our sights. We’ve talked about what we want and we want to deliver regular success.
“This is our opportunity this season to be successful. We're out of the two cups but the first job is to secure top six and then go from there.
“We’re under no illusions – we’ve got two really tough games coming up, but we’re in credit going into the Rangers game that's going to be another momentous, emotional occasion and the boys are going to have to be 100 per cent plus 10 to be able to go and get the win.”
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