Lee Johnson insists Hibs are desperate to give the Old Firm a bloody nose as they prepare to host Rangers then Celtic in the next eight days.
The Easter Road side have climbed to fifth on the back of a four-game unbeaten run that included beating rival Hearts and an impressive draw with Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Saturday.But Johnson wants them to take another step and prove they can get closer to the big two. The Glasgow giants both visit Leith starting with Rangers on Sunday then the champions next Wednesday.
And having taken only one point from six previous encounters against them - that being a 2-2 draw with Rangers way back in August - Johnson is desperate to claim a victory before the end of the campaign. After a 6-1 thrashing at Celtic Park in October he claimed Scottish players are “brainwashed” into thinking they can’t beat the Old Firm. Rangers then won 4-1 on their last visit to Leith in March. And Johnson told Sky Sports: “They’ve been fantastic every time we played them. Easter Road was probably their best performance other than at the weekend.
“We were a little below par on an emotional day for us as we celebrated the life of Ron Gordon. This is a new game for us though, we have a couple of players back from injury and are in good form ourselves. It’s an important one for us. It’ll be a sell-out which is massive at Easter Road. It’s one we feel we’ve got to get closer to the Old Firm in terms of points and wins and performances.
“You constantly have to turn the dial in terms of how much you can release bodies forward or how many men you have behind the ball. But we are at home and then the fans demand that level of attacking prowess and generally we have shown them that this year and they’ve been buoyed by the number of shots, corners, crosses in the final third. Now when we play the Old Firm we do that as consistently as when we play the rest.”
Hibs sit a point behind rivals Hearts going into the final three games of the season - with the Jambos hosting Aberdeen this weekend before travelling to Ibrox and finishing the season with the Edinburgh derby in Gorgie.
It’s teed-up to be a huge battle for bragging rights and Johnson says the mood at Easter Road is as buoyant as he’s known. He said: “We’re very excited. It’s a great three games. We’re in good form and the boys are feeling confident. We have to maximise the pints on offer but they’re tough games.
“We were outstanding on Saturday. Aberdeen are on a great run but the boys implemented the game plan to perfection - apart from that elusive goal. We hit the woodwork four times, missed a penalty and dominated between the boxes. It was really good from us but we need to maintain that standard and performance level. We were disappointed we couldn’t take the three as that would put us with a shout of taking third but we will keep fighting. It’s important for us we continue to improve because it’s a relatively new project.”
Brian McDermott has been appointed as director of football ahead of a busy summer transfer window and Johnson said: “The club has needed that - it’s something that can look from 10,000ft all the time while we are in with the muck and nettles with the coaching and games coming up.
“Recruitment is a big factor at this time of year and retained lists are really important as well. Budgets have got to work well for the club and we have to make good decisions. I’m really comfortable having been here nearly a year that the staff and board back us to the hilt.”
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