Hibs head coach Alan Stubbs insists he has seen no signs of his team feeling sorry for themselves as they prepare for Saturday’s Scottish Cup final against Rangers.
The Easter Road side were dealt a crushing blow on Friday after a play-off semi-final second leg defeat to Falkirk condemned Hibs to a third successive season in the Championship.
Stubbs gave the players the weekend off to try and recover from that bitter disappointment and from watching the squad train this week, the former Celtic defender is adamant that they will be in the right frame of mind for the Hampden showdown.
Stubbs said: “They had a couple of days off at the weekend, the players had to deal with it in their own way.
“From Monday and Tuesday they trained very well and they trained like a team that’s got a cup final that’s coming up in a few days’ time.
“It was really intense. There were tackles flying in and I had to cool it down a bit at times, which is great to see.
“I think the best way to pick them up is when you’ve got a Scottish Cup final to look forward to.
“It’s not as if Friday was the last game and they’ve gone away for the whole summer and thought about it.”
Despite finishing the season 11 points adrift of Championship winners Rangers, Stubbs reckons his players only need to look at this season’s head-to-head record to know they can end Hibs’ tortuous 114-year wait for Scottish Cup glory.
The sides have beaten each other twice in the league, while Mark Warburton’s team also came out on top 6-2 in a Petrofac Training Cup clash last July.
Stubbs, speaking to Talksport, added: “When you look at the league form this year we’re sitting at two wins apiece.
“So from that point of view, if we need any confidence we only have to look at that.
“On our day we’ve got a big performance in us and we can get a result but we know we’re going to have to do that because Rangers have done fantastic this season.
“Mark’s done a really good job this year, in fact he’s done a fantastic job.
“He’s brought in some really gifted players and they’ve done well all season.
“They’ve got players that have just been called into the Scotland squad, they’re a very attacking side and they’re very easy on the eye to watch.
“I think everybody saw that in the semi-final against Celtic. Rangers played very well, I don’t think Celtic played as well as they could but you’ve got to give credit to Rangers for that as well.
“In all the games we’ve played there have been goals in every game, there’s been a 3-2 and a 4-2.
“There’s been plenty of goals and I see an open game on Saturday.
“If you’re a neutral, I think you’ll see a really exciting game. I think you’ll see two teams who want to play football.”
