David Marshall has insisted that Hibernian want to make their move before the World Cup break by taking a firm grip of third place in the Premiership.
The Leith side could climb back up to that position ahead of Aberdeen with victory over St Mirren at home today before then travelling to Pittodrie next Friday.
Lee Johnson’s team, who are looking to end a three game losing run, have a total of four games to go before the league shuts down for a month.
Bearing that in mind, the vastly experienced former Scotland goalkeeper insists Hibs do not want to hang around until the festive period to lay down a marker.
He said: “The break is a focus in terms of getting players back in, where you want to be and getting yourself in a good position.
“We’ve got four massive games and got an opportunity to really put ourselves in a good position so I don’t think we’re one for waiting for getting everyone fit and looking to push on after the break.
“We’ve got four massive games and winnable games. "We’ll be looking to put ourselves into third position before the break.
“Aberdeen, Hearts as well, are two of the bigger clubs in the country that expect consistency and expect to be finishing third.
“Aberdeen have had a change of manager and Hearts have European football, which is a big drain on their squad and a big injury to Liam Boyce.
“It’s still there for everyone, St Mirren have done really well, Livingston have started well too. It’s still up in the air.”
Hibs had been enjoying a rich vein of form with four straight wins before hitting the buffers with three losses on the spin to Dundee United, Celtic and St Johnstone.
With the exception of 6-1 thrashing to Celtic, Marshall insists there has not been a lot wrong with their recent performances.
They collapsed to a 2-1 loss to Saints last Friday after going down to ten men following Kyle Magennis’ sending off.
The former Celtic and Cardiff City shot-stopper added: “I think in the last six, seven games - take the Celtic one out of that - I don’t think we’ve been too far away.
“We managed to win four on the spin and looked to Dundee United and St Johnstone as possible big wins so we were disappointed to lose them but performances wise in 90 per cent of the games I think we’ve been pretty good.
“I feel there has been a steady improvement of performance, Celtic Park apart.”
Now 37, Marshall is confident there is still plenty of life left in him, especially when he sees Rangers keeper Allan McGregor (40) and Hearts stopper Craig Gordon (39) continuing to perform heroics both domestically and in Europe.
Marshall, who retired from international action in June, added: “I’m nearly there! The two of them are great. I know them so well that there was never any doubt they would both do well at that level.
"There are no surprises from me that the two of them are performing so well domestically and in Europe.
“With Scotland, I just felt it was the right time, coming at the end of the World Cup campaign.
“It was a bit strange, it was mid camp. But it’s like anything in life — you just get a feeling. And for me it felt like the right time.”
