David Marshall insists consistency is key if Hibs are going to finish third this season.
The veteran Easter Road No1 says the target for Lee Johnson's men is to finish best of the rest - just like rivals Hearts did last season and are currently enjoying playing European group stage football in the Europa Conference League. Guaranteed group stage participation was their reward for placing behind Celtic and Rangers in the league standings, and Marshall now wants the success to arrive at the other end of the capital.
The Hibees had won four on the bounce before losing their last three on the trot ahead of facing a St Mirren side, flying high in joint-third with Aberdeen. The Leith outfit trail the duo by two points - having played a game more - but former Scotland keeper Marshall says full focus is on getting a big result against the Buddies this weekend.
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He told said: “We come into this one off the back of three defeats which isn’t ideal. Prior to that, we had four wins on the bounce so we know that keeping our consistency is going to be key if we are going to finish third in this league.
“That has been the message in training, going back to basics and making sure we maintain our standards.
“We played St Mirren earlier this season and they won. We were particularly disappointed with how we played that day but credit to St Mirren they have had a really good start to the first quarter or so of the season.
“They will see it as a chance to put a bit of a gap between the two teams but we have to be targeting that third spot and our focus is on our performance and what we can do on Saturday.”
He continued: "It has been a long week, when you come into a game off the back of a defeat you just want to get back out there. We were disappointed with Friday night but we have prepared well for this one and we are looking forward to another home game.
“We have been good at home recently – other than the setback on Friday – but we are looking to bounce back from that with three points on Saturday.
“Looking back on the game against St Johnstone I think the majority of the game we played pretty well, but we were left deflated with the result.
“It was difficult to lose the game, especially in front of a big crowd. We are looking for a reaction in terms of points, but in terms of performance-wise, I don’t think we are too far away so we need to make sure we maintain our levels and I am sure that will bring three points.”
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