Hibs assistant John Potter underlines importance of Motherwell clash

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The Hibs squad in training ahead of Saturday’s cinch Premiership encounter with Motherwell. Picture: SNS

Graham Alexander’s men sit six points in front of their hosts in fifth place, though the Edinburgh club do have two games in hand due to last month’s Covid-19 outbreak and their participation in the Premier Sports Cup.

Last season’s third-place finishers are determined to get themselves back up the table into the European spots and that mission begins at 3pm.

“You always want to climb the league and to do that we’ll need to beat everyone in front of us. You want to beat the team directly above you to get closer to them, so yes it’s important,” said Jack Ross’ No.2. “They’ll look at it as a chance for them to get away from us. But it’s a good opportunity for us to get closer to them.

“We still have a couple of games in hand, so if we can win this one it will be important.

“We watched the game the other night and we have done our homework on them. They’re a good side. They’re good at what they do. They’ve got effective players, good players at the top of the pitch who cause problems.

“So it will be a really difficult game, we know that. They have had a really good season. But if we play the way we can they’ll have a difficult game as well.

Hibs lost five league games on the bounce before coming from behind to defeat St Johnstone last Saturday. That was followed by Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat to Rangers as a late penalty ensured another hard-luck story.

Potter insists the management staff weren’t too concerned about the result against the reigning champions as they believe the players showed their quality against a tough opponent.

“I would rather we play well,” he said. “If we play to that standard and we play the type of football we did we’ll win games, I don’t have any doubts about that.

“We just need to keep it up, we can’t just do it in little bits and pieces.”