Murray backs Hibs to fight for top-six spot

The statistics may suggest otherwise, but Hibs skipper Ian Murray today insisted there’s light at the end of the tunnel for the Easter Road outfit’s suffering fans.

Having seen their side win just three out of their opening 12 matches and watched the second half capitulation against Celtic which ended their dream of glory in the Scottish Communities League Cup, the majority of supporters are beginning to question whether there will be anything the cheer at the end of this season.But Murray claimed that while slight, the progress made has slipped under the radar with Colin Calderwood’s side attracting the sort of attention from which other clubs have escaped.

He said: “We finished tenth last season and we are sitting ninth at the moment. I know people don’t want to hear that, but it is still small progress.

“I don’t want to drag other teams into it, but look at Dundee United. They finished fourth last season and are sitting tenth and I don’t get the same negative vibes and feeling about them. They have lost a lot of players, but we have also lost a lot of quality players as well.

“We have a few games coming up against teams round and about us in the league, matches we feel we can win and if we do then we’ll be sitting fourth or fifth and looking OK again.

“No-one wants to be ninth at the moment, that’s definite, but when you look around the league there’s inconsistency apart from Rangers and perhaps Motherwell who are doing well.

“I don’t think Celtic would call themselves consistent, nor Hearts. We are six points behind Hearts who took three points off us so there is a six-point swing in that game.

“It’s not all doom and gloom like people would want you to believe. We are still very confident we will finish where we belong, that we can progress not on just a couple of places from last season, but to where we want to be and that’s definitely top six.