Stuart Kettlewell admits Hibs are huge favourites to beat Motherwell in Edinburgh on Saturday, but says there's no reason why they can't upset the odds.
Kettlewell admits there was frustration the last time the Steelmen visited Easter Road in October, with a Ryan Porteous goal enough to earn the hosts a 1-0 win, after Motherwell striker Connor Shields had been sent off.
But Motherwell have since changed their manager, with Kettlewell stepping in to replace Stevie Hammell, while Hibs have significantly changed their squad.
Kettlewell, who was lead development coach at the time of that defeat in the capital, says it's firmly in the past.
He said: "Our group is completely different, it’s a different manager. They have a number of players who are different from that game.
“There was a lot of frustration, I was here at the time. But if we look at how Hibs will set up, I think they are in a far better place than they were.
“They are playing better, they’re full of confidence, and the manager is a number of months further into his tenure, so there are a number of aspects that make it completely different.
“But it’s an exceptionally difficult place to go, it’s a big football club in this country, and Hibs will be favourites to beat us on Saturday – but that doesn’t mean we can’t go and upset the odds and make it really difficult for them.
“I think we’re playing completely different as a team, and how that now shapes up against what Hibs are doing will be interesting to see.
“We’re second-favourites, so how we approach that and embrace it, and enjoy that tag is another thing.
“We look forward to the game, and it’s an excellent stadium against a good team, and I think we will learn a little bit more about ourselves within that.
“They’re a good side and they’re going to be fighting at that top end of the table, so we need to brace ourselves for that, understand what they’re good at, what the options are that they have.
“But we can’t think this is any bigger than the games that have gone before; we need to be as good as we have been at a number of aspects.”
Motherwell follow up their trip to Edinburgh with back-to-back home games against Livingston and Dundee United, before travelling to Celtic Park in their final pre-split fixture on April 22.
Kettlewell says this is the business end of the season and wants to go on a points-gathering mission in the next month.
Motherwell are in ninth place, 10 points and four places below Hibs, but are looking to distance themselves from the pack scrapping it out at the bottom of the Premiership.
He said: “We have nine games to go between now and the end of the season. We do want to take them one at a time, but this is the time to get our head down, go to work, and make sure we can maximise our points tally.
“I always used to love this part of the season because it really does mean something – whether it’s at the bottom end of the table, fighting for cup competitions, or at the top end of a league.
“You get into this cycle that everything you do on the training ground of the pitch means something – if I can create that here, hopefully it can breed a bit of success over the next month or so.”
Kettlewell says Riku Danzaki, Jack Aitchison and Joe Effort have returned to football training sessions, but are at different stages of their return to action.
Striker Jon Obika has suffered a hamstring tear, but is expected to resume running on Monday.
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