STEVIE MALLAN is convinced Hibernian have every right to be high on confidence going into Thursday’s Europa League tie with Molde.
The Easter Road outfit have been handed a daunting draw that will see them face Russian side Zenit St Petersburg in the play-off round if they can negotiate a way past their third qualifying round opponents from Norway over two legs.
Last week’s aggregate win over Asteras Tripolis has given Neil Lennon’s outfit plenty of belief and they proved that domestically with Sunday’s comfortable 3-0 victory over Motherwell in their Premiership opener.
And midfielder Mallan is optimistic of another positive performance when they host Molde this week.
The summer signing said: “We just kicked on from our result last Thursday. The boys were high on confidence, because it was a very good side we played.
“And we’ve taken that confidence into Sunday.
“We always knew Motherwell were going to be a tough, tough side and we put in a very dominant performance to get a 3-0 win.
“It was a good all-round performance from the whole squad and I think that brings the confidence levels up even more this Thursday against Molde.”
GOALS
Mallan has made an impressive start to life at Hibs and his opener against Motherwell on Sunday took his tally to five goals from five appearances.
The former St Mirren player is delighted with his return so far and has pledged to continue providing the attacking threat Lennon asked for on his arrival.
The 22-year-old added: “When I first joined the club, the gaffer wanted me to score more goals from midfield, and that was something that I wanted to do.
“It’s good to get off to a good start and it’s good to boost myself as well; all I want to do is score more goals.
“I couldn’t ask for a better start and now I just need to continue that through the whole season.”
