BY IAIN COLLIN – Capital City Press
Alan Stubbs has vowed that Hibernian will ‘have a really good go’ at Rangers this weekend as they bid to become the first side to upset the league leaders’ unblemished record.
The teams meet on Sunday for the third time so far this season, with Rangers having won on both previous occasions in the Petrofac Training Cup and the Championship.
The Light Blues’ stunning 6-2 triumph at Easter Road in July kick-started a run that has seen them lose only to St Johnstone in the League Cup in the 16 matched that have followed.
The Ibrox side’s 1-0 success in the league in August was closer but, having so far won all 11 Championship matches, Mark Warburton’s men will travel to the capital with the comfort of an eight-point gap.
However, after a 2-1 win away to Raith Rovers on Saturday, Stubbs has been happy with the way his players have responded to their last encounter with Rangers to win nine of 10 undefeated games since.
He knows their 1-1 draw with St Mirren last month left them little wriggle room in their pursuit of the title favourites, but the Hibs boss is confident they can provide a stiff examination of Rangers’ 100 per cent sequence this weekend.
He said: “We’ve had a period of games where we knew we had to win and keep up the momentum and keep up the pressure, on ourselves really, to stay in touch.
“And we’ve answered all the questions and all the targets we’ve given ourselves up to now, which has given us an opportunity to try and reduce the gap.
“The one thing I was very conscious of was we dropped a couple of silly points (against St Mirren), which really put an emphasis on this game and I’m thrilled we go in with (no more than) an eight-point difference.
“We invite Rangers to Easter Road and we are going to really test them; we are going to have a really good go at them and see whether we can be the first team to beat them.”
@IainCollin
