Hibs: Why the next five games can make or break Easter Road side's season

Tomorrow’s match at home to St Mirren represents the start of a period in which Hibs can set about turning a hitherto underwhelming season into a relatively fruitful one.

Eight points behind fourth-place Aberdeen with 15 league games still to play, there remains a chance for Jack Ross’s side to return to the European places. In addition, with an away fifth-round tie against Lowland League side BSC Glasgow on Sunday week, an obvious opportunity beckons to enjoy a notable Scottish Cup run.

Making it to Hampden again and competing for the European places at the business end of the campaign would represent a clear sign of progress under Ross after the early-season struggles near the foot of the table under his predecessor, Paul Heckingbottom.

Inconsistency

There is work to be done to ensure this scenario becomes reality, of course. Hibs have been inconsistent since Ross’s arrival, hinting at good times ahead with exhilarating victories over the likes of Motherwell, Aberdeen and Hearts, but similarly falling on their faces against Ross County, Rangers and Livingston.

Their exasperating knack of relinquishing a lead remains a concern, with Dundee United fighting back to equalise three times over the course of their epic two-legged Scottish Cup fourth-showdown.

There have been six wins, three draws and four defeats in the 13 games Ross has presided over in all competitions. Hibs were ahead in three of those seven games that they failed to win, so they are clearly on the cusp of being a team capable of winning more often than not, which is what they will have to become in the coming weeks and months if they wish to elevate themselves from mid-table into the top four.

Favourable run of fixtures

In that regard, their prospects are aided by having a favourable run of fixtures throughout February. In total, they will play six matches over the course of the next month, with five of them firmly bracketed in the “winnable” category. They welcome St Mirren, Ross County and Livingston to Easter Road in the league, with two away games against Rangers and struggling Kilmarnock, as well as the aforementioned cup tie against BSC. Of these fixtures, Rangers away is the only one in which Hibs will be classed as underdogs and deemed unlikely to collect any points.

There is clearly an opportunity to rack up a significant number of points and progress in the cup in the coming weeks. Ten points from the next five fixtures, for instance, shouldn’t be beyond Hibs, assuming they come out of the final day of the transfer window with their goal-scoring, goal-assisting talisman Martin Boyle still at the club and with the squad bolstered by the addition of a new striker.

Catching Dons a tall order but not impossible

While it will be a tall order to catch Aberdeen, who have become perennial top-four finishers under Derek McInnes, Hibs must feel it is possible. There is a negative vibe around Pittodrie at present, and the Dons don’t currently look like a team about to embark on a consistent run of form. Livingston are just two points above Hibs, and their manager Gary Holt has stated this week that his team are intent on chasing down Aberdeen. If Livingston can have such a bullish attitude towards this aim, there is no reason Hibs, with greater resource, shouldn’t be similarly ambitious in their targets.

It is worth recalling that in mid-February last year Heckingbottom arrived to take over a struggling Hibs team and swiftly elevated them from eighth place to fifth. They were 14 points adrift of fourth place when the Yorkshireman took over and by the end of March he had them in a position whereby they were being considered European contenders before things fizzled out in the closing weeks out of the campaign.

Hibs are in a better position than this time last year

Heckingbottom sparked that brief burst of early-spring, campaign-enhancing form with a squad which is weaker than the current one, with no Scott Allan, no Boyle, no Christian Doidge and no Joe Newell. The only player who played in the closing months of last season who might be considered desirable at present would be the veteran Australian Mark Milligan, but even then the recent revival of Steven Whittaker as a classy deep-lying midfielder may be enough to offset the absence of a bona fide anchorman.

In short, Hibs, who were scrambling about with no manager on the closing night of the last January transfer window trying to get deals over the line for the likes of Darnell Johnson and Gael Bigirimana, are in a notably better position at present than they were at this time last year.

While being mindful of the lingering danger of slipping into the bottom six and being dragged back into the relegation zone, Ross - whose side are currently five points clear in the top six - has a relatively sturdy platform from which to try and propel Hibs back into the upper echelons of the Premiership and banish the club’s toils of the past 18 months or so.