Jack Ross insists he has ‘faith’ that his Hibs players can cope with the pressure of trying to seal third place in the Premiership.
Victory over Livingston on Wednesday night would go a long way to holding off any late charge from Aberdeen under new boss Stephen Glass.
Just four points separate the capital men from their Pittodrie rivals with only four matches remaining.
The Easter Road side have over the years been accused of choking when it matters most, so much so that the term ‘Hibsed it’ was coined for teams suffering late collapses.
But Ross is convinced his current squad can get themselves over the line in the league - at the same time as chasing Scottish Cup glory.
Highlighting Sunday’s 4-0 Scottish Cup victory over Stranraer, he said: “You try to create a culture within your group that has ambition but where they’re humble enough to understand how they’ve got to work hard to get there.
“I inherited a really good core group here in terms of the senior players and their mentality.
“And I believe we’ve recruited and added ones who fit with that.
“Consequently, we’ve got a group who all season have been focused and have wanted to achieve.
“And they know there’s a demand on them from me to achieve and be successful.
“But they understand in every single game what it takes to do that.
“Sunday was a clear example of that. They’re good players, but they went with a mindset that was absolutely spot on for the game.
“It doesn’t guarantee you’ll always play well or win games but I’ve never once had a fear about this group not going into a game with the right mindset.
“It’s an important stage of the season for us and I feel as if I’ve got that faith in the group, in terms of them producing that last part and getting their just rewards for this season.”
Meanwhile, Ross has reported some selection worries ahead of the visit of Livingston.
Wing-back Chris Cadden missed Sunday’s trip to Stair Park and Jamie Murphy and Sean Mackie are definitely out.
Ross added: “We have one or two concerns from Sunday who we’ll assess today and tomorrow morning.
“Chris Cadden hopefully should be involved. He’s one of the ones we’ve got a doubt over.
“He was due to start on Sunday but suffered a knock in training on Saturday morning.
“And there’s concerns over another one or two.”
