With just one defeat in the last seven games Gary Naysmith has his players on a good run which he'll be hoping to continue on Saturday. It doesn't’t come much tougher than facing the league leaders, though, as Neil Lennon brings his, table topping, Hibernian to town.
The Opposition
The clubs last met, at Easter Road, in November when the home side ran out comfortable 4-0 winners.
Since then, Hibs have played 8 games, winning 5 of them, including a thumping 8-1 victory over Bonnyrigg Rose last weekend and a 1-0 win over our last opponents Dumbarton the week before. They have drawn two of those 8 matches, against Morton and Raith, and lost just once, at Tannadice.
Hibs currently sit top of the Championship on 45 points, 6 clear of their nearest challengers, Dundee United. They also have the best away record in the division, picking up 24 of those points on their travels. The December defeat at Tannadice is their only loss away from home this season.
Neil Lennon has added two players to his squad since our last meeting. Winger Chris Humphrey returned to Scotland to sign until the end of the season, after leaving Motherwell for Preston in 2013. Celtics Kris Commons joined the Easter road club on an emergency loan on 16th December, playing 5 games and scoring twice. His loan has since expired but Lennon has made no secret of his desire to bring the midfielder to Hibs again, although at the time of writing he remains at Celtic.
The Game
This Ladbrokes Championship match kicks off at 3pm on Saturday 28th January at Palmerston.
Live updates will be available on the website and on
Twitter and
Facebook. We will also publish pictures through the day on our
Instagram Channel
The Fans
For home fans, the normal ticket procedure applies for the game and tickets will be available for all areas of the ground on match day from the usual ticket offices. Tickets can also be purchased in advance from the Midsteeple and, from Thursday onwards, the Club Shop.
For Season Ticket holders this will be match ticket 11. Full ticket details and pricing, for home and away fans, can be found
here
Away fans will be in the Rosefield Salvage Stand and the Terregles Street terrace. Tickets are on sale in advance from Hibernian FC and there will be terrace tickets available to buy on the day at the ground.
Directions on how to get to Palmerston, including parking information, can be found
here
The Manager
We are delighted with the return of seven points from three difficult games on the road, and I am also delighted that we are now starting to gather some momentum in both our results and our performances.
Last week, I was especially pleased with the way we responded after Dumbarton pegged us back and although it was a close game, it was a game that we definitely deserved to win. Having gone to Dumbarton on the back of a trip to Tannadice the week before it was a real mental test for the players and a challenge that they rose to. You have to be able to win games in all different ways and we showed that we can do that. If we're to reach the play offs then we need to be going to places like Dumbarton and picking up results. There wasn't much between the teams but I think with some better decision making at times in the game then it's one that we could have won more comfortably. The objective before kick off last week was to close the gap on those above us, we did and moved ourselves further away from those at the bottom. We've also now put pressure on teams like Raith and Dunfermline who have to go and win their games to move ahead of us again.
Overall we have to be happy with the three points from a very tough game.
I'd also like to thank you all for your tremendous support at the last three away games – it is always very much appreciated and certainly helps the players.
After three games on the road, it’s nice to be looking forward to a game on our own patch. It's hard to believe that we're nearly into February and this will be our first home fixture of the calendar year!
Our home form hasn't been great so that's something we need to work on. Normally when your successful your home form is good and what you get away from home is a bonus, at the moment it's the other way around for us so there is no better time than to start changing that.
There is no tougher test in this division than Hibernian so it’s a perfect opportunity to really see where we are at. Hibs have only lost two league games this season and I’m looking forward to the challenge. I’ve played against Neil Lennon many times so I'm now looking forward to pitting my wits against him as a manager. It's a game that we are all looking forward to and a chance for the players to go and test themselves against the best squad in the league.
The Team
Jamie Hamill is available again after serving a one match ban. Jordan Marshall who also missed last weekend's visit to Dumbarton will resume training this week and Dale Hilson has now been given the green light to step up his rehab over the next few weeks.
The Officials
Referee : Steven McLean
Assistant 1 : Ross Haswell
Assistant 2 : Steven Strang
This will be Mr McLeans 18th match in charge for us. Our record in those matches is pretty even with 5 wins, 6 draws and 6 defeats. Our record at Palmerston with Mr McLean in the middle is better, though, with just two defeats, the 1-4 loss to Dundee United in November and a 1-3 defeat to Rath Rovers in 2010.
This will be the third time we’ve had Mr McLean as referee this season, as well as that defeat to Dundee Utd he also took charge of the first game, at Palmerston, against Hibs which ended 0-0.
The Stats
With that draw earlier in the season, the head to heads at Palmerston remain locked on 11 wins each, but now with 5 draws.
That draw was only the second between the clubs since Hibs relegation in 2014, the other being the first meeting that year at Easter Road. Our Championship record against Hibs at home is 2 wins for both sides and just that one draw. Overall, the record is 5 defeats, 2 draws and 3 wins.
This game sees the Championships two top scorers go head to head. Jason Cummings and Stephen Dobbie are tied at the top of the scorers charts on 12 league goals.