Alan Stubbs: Post-split games will bring best out of Hibs

The hazardous route to second place has been outlined '“ now Hibs have to try and negotiate it.

With the top six of the Scottish Premiership as strong as it has been in recent memory after red-hot Kilmarnock joined the country’s five biggest city clubs in making the cut, the Easter Road side were always destined to face a rocky road in their pursuit to finish best of the rest behind champions-in-waiting Celtic.

After the release of the post-split fixtures yesterday, Hibs now know they face tricky home games against Celtic and Killie, followed by a formidable away double-header against Hearts and Aberdeen, before their campaign concludes with a potential Europa League shootout at home to Rangers. Within this mettle-testing five-game sequence, Neil Lennon’s in-form team will have to collect four points more than both Aberdeen and Rangers if they are to mark their first season back in the top flight by finishing in second place. It is clearly a tall order but, after concluding the pre-split fixtures with a nine-game unbeaten run which included six victories, they are the form team of the three in the battle to finish runners-up to Celtic.

“Hibs have been very consistent recently and that’s why they find themselves in such a good position,” former Hibs manager Alan Stubbs told the Evening News. “I don’t see any reason why they can’t continue their form until the end of the season. Even though they’re going to be facing the other five best teams in the league, Neil won’t be fearing coming up against any of them. Some people are for and some are against the split, but it means you’re guaranteed to have really good games against teams in the same area of the league. Hibs have got three big games at home that will probably be sell-outs and they’ve also got big away games at Hearts and Aberdeen. It’s going to be an exciting run-in from a Hibs point of view. It’s all to play for.”

Neil Lennon's side face an exciting end to the campaign

Starting the run-in three points behind both Rangers and Aberdeen means Hibs are the outsiders in