John Hughes joked he knows Hibernian so well, he can predict Jack Ross’s line up for the weekend meeting with his Ross County side in Dingwall.
The former Hibs captain and manager picked up his first win as Staggies boss at Easter Road in December, leaving his old stomping ground with a 2-0 win.
A Highland rematch in February was put off due to the whiteout caused by Storm Darcy, but Yogi’s “connections” in his native Leith will hand him an advantage as Hibs attempt to overcome their recent slide in form off the back of two defeats.
Hughes also managed Ross as a player while at Falkirk and laughed that he knows how his former charge thinks, adding he has ten of the Hibees' starting XI pegged well ahead of kick off.
"I have played there, I am local boy, I know everything about the club, inside out," he told his pre-match press conference.
“I will know Jack’s team by the time the game comes and the reason I am laughing is that when Jack played for me at Falkirk, every time we played Hibs I had their team on a Friday spot on because of the connections.
"So throw that in, that will bring a smile to Jack’s face.
“We are short of one. I don’t know if it will be [Christian] Doidge or [Kevin] Nisbet as centre forward. He might try to mix his shape up a bit.
“I am only having a laugh here, I don’t try to second guess. It is all about what my team do.”
Ross has seen his side’s bid to sew up third spot derailed off the back of losses to Motherwell and St Johnstone without hitting the back of the net.
The Leith outfit have been saved by Aberdeen’s own slip ups as they chase the men in green and white’s Premiership European spot.
The Staggies meanwhile have reined in Kilmarnock and Hamilton at the bottom of the table in what looks like being a gripping end to the campaign to avoid relegation.
And Hughes insists his side will be well up for the challenge this weekend.
“They have that objective of trying to get that third spot in the league so they will be hurting, they will be dangerous.
“They have a lot of good players. We are going to be right up against it but it is one we look forward to.
“We don’t fear it, we embrace it and we are basically saying, ‘bring it on’."
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