Hibs star details what was said during player only meeting before two big results

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Hibs have had a massive week with a fighting draw against Aberdeen and a win over Motherwell offering new hope.

The Hibees were bottom of the Premiership before facing Jimmy Thelin’s high flyers and looked like they would stay there as they trailed 2-1 – before firing in TWO stoppage time equalisers in a crazy end to the game.

That seemed to lift the belief around the place and the approached Saturday’s clash at Fir Park with a real confidence before dominating and running out convincing 3-0 winners.

That has taken David Gray’s side off the foot of the table and showed that this side are capable of putting a run of results together that could lift them even higher up the league.

• READ MORE: Hibs can ‘light up’ their season by ‘unlocking’ fringe man as second Hibee lauded

Hibs star admits nervousness

Hibs have had a nasty habit this season of throwing away games in the closing stages, time and time again losing or drawing games from a winning position.

That meant they only had one Premiership victory before the weekend.

That propensity to surrender leads has led to an anxiety within the stands when heading into the final stages with a slender lead.

Goalkeeper Jordan Smith admits that has been palpable but hopes the improved fortunes will put an end to that.

He said: “There is a nervousness you can sense and everyone can but we need to put that to bed. Games are going to be tight at this level. Teams are similar, with all due respect.

“I’m not going to say it comes down to who wants it more because I don’t think anyone doesn’t want it.

“But it’s about having that belief and that fight. It’s gone against us one too many times. So we just needed to look internally and come up with the answers. We found that answer.

“Within the game, I don’t think the boys are thinking ‘what if?’ at 2-0 up. It’s probably more something you’d sense as a fan or onlooker.

“We just had a job to do so we concentrated on the task in hand. You probably saw that steely resilience, boys getting behind each other for blocks or whatever, celebrating them like goals almost!

“But, yeah, when we went three goals ahead it felt like an absolute weight was lifted off us.”

Hibs captain Joe Newell holds player meeting

Hibs captain Joe Newell held a meeting before the Aberdeen game with no coaching staff present, only players.

It certainly seemed to have the desired effect.

Smith detailed what was said in the meeting explaining: “We know we’ve not been good enough. We just said: ‘We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to the fans to turn in better performances.’

“It’s alright using a hard-luck story here and there. Ultimately, it makes little difference because the results are there and we’re fighting at the wrong end of the division.

“The game on Tuesday, when we scored really late, probably made a massive difference. They’ve been going against us. But that one went for us.

“So there’s been a bit of a momentum shift. We needed to make sure we got the three points by any means necessary, to feel that momentum and carry it on.

“We’ve not beat ourselves against Motherwell. To a man, everyone performed brilliantly. That’s got to be the minimum required for a football club of this stature. If we do that going forward, get that little bit of luck, we give ourselves every chance.”