Four points from their last seven games is not the sort of form you want behind you when you take on the league leaders. However, that is the hand Hibs hold ahead of tomorrow's meeting at Easter Road and captain James McPake knows his side must try to re-create their early-season form to stand a chance of taking anything from the encounter. Hibs put in a desperate performance on Boxing Day when they lost 1-0 to Ross County. McPake knows that Celtic can be "frightening" when at their best and is well aware Hibs' top form will be required to be unpacked along with the strips tomorrow. McPake said: "Celtic are the best team in the country, no doubt about that. On their day they can be frightening. We proved when we went to Celtic Park that we can be a match for them. I think our biggest problem will be which Hibs team turns up. We've got to make sure that when we take to the pitch on Saturday we play the way we had been playing earlier in the season. If that happens then it should be a good game." McPake has been in and out of the side thanks to a troublesome back complaint; he was back against Motherwell only to be sent off and handed a one-game ban which saw him miss the draw at Kilmarnock. Hibs last won in the SPL a month ago today, against St Johnstone, but McPake is confident they can consolidate their position in a congested table ahead of the winter break. McPake added: "It's a bit annoying. Take away Wednesday, I don't think the performances have been that bad. We've been losing silly goals and we've not been killing teams off when maybe we should. We're still there or thereabouts in the league. We're not going to sulk, we're not going to get low in confidence. We're going to try to kick on and get back to the way we have been. First and foremost we've got to get the performance back to where we had been. We've got to forget about Wednesday. Although it's disappointing we've got to put it on the back-burner, try to kick on and try to put more points on the table and get back to performing the way we know we can. It will be a long couple of weeks (break) if we don't." Celtic have won their last five SPL games, scoring 15 goals along the way. Striker Gary Hooper has been linked with a big-money move in the winter transfer window, with Juventus among those reportedly interested, but Celtic also have a Champions League last-16 tie to play in February. McPake expects a busy afternoon against Hooper and co. McPake said: "He's a very good player. He's probably the best striker in the country. You don't get talked about, the clubs being interested in him without being a good player. We're not going to worry that it's Celtic, Gary Hooper's coming, Georgios Samaras. We've got to play our own game and hopefully everyone's talking about Leigh Griffiths or Eoin Doyle come the end of the game. We've got to go out and try to take the game to Celtic. Obviously they've got more quality and they can hurt you more than other teams in the league can. We've got to try to stand up, be strong at the back and hopefully our forward players can do it for us up top."
Source: ScottishFitba
Source: FOOTYMAD
