Michael Weir: This was always my biggest fear for Hibs

I was a bit worried after the late sucker-punch against Dundee United on Saturday, and how damaging it might be, so it was a relief to see Hibs get straight back to winning ways against St Mirren on Wednesday.
Hibs striker Christian Doidge walks off after being shown the red card against St Mirren on Wednesday, meaning he will miss the trip to Rangers on Boxing Day. (Photo by Bill Murray / SNS Group)Hibs striker Christian Doidge walks off after being shown the red card against St Mirren on Wednesday, meaning he will miss the trip to Rangers on Boxing Day. (Photo by Bill Murray / SNS Group)
Hibs striker Christian Doidge walks off after being shown the red card against St Mirren on Wednesday, meaning he will miss the trip to Rangers on Boxing Day. (Photo by Bill Murray / SNS Group)

Failing to put teams away when you completely dominate the game can come back to haunt you, but Aberdeen weren't able to take advantage and their draw with Motherwell means Hibs have got away with one.

It's getting really close now in the race for third place and I think it's going to go all the way. A lot depends on how we deal with Aberdeen the next time we play them on February 6. Up until then we've just got to keep going and getting the results because looking at Aberdeen just now, they're not pulling up any trees. They're not a team that look full of confidence and they're starting to wobble a wee bit. It's up to Hibs to take advantage especially with the games we've got coming up.

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Rangers is obviously a tough one, but we've got Ross County and Livingston at home in the space of a few days which are winnable – and ones we need to win. If we can get anything at Ibrox it will be a great bonus, particularly as it looks like we'll be missing a couple of players with Ofir Marciano and Kyle Magennis picking up injuries against St Mirren and Christian Doidge suspended after his red card in the same match.

Running into injury and suspension issues like this was always my biggest fear for Hibs. I've always felt the lack of depth would be our biggest problem so this will be a big test for the squad. My fear has always been that the squad is not quite strong enough to deal with a situation where we lose two or three players.

It's all down to the players who come in and whether they take their chance. We'll miss the experience of Marciano, but it's an opportunity for Dillon Barnes to go in and stake a claim and show that if there is any slip-up from Marciano that he's going to be capable of stepping up. It's a big game for him but it's up to him to stake a claim for the jersey like any others who are brought into the starting 11 on Saturday. Football is all about taking your opportunities when they come along. It's a big game to be thrown into, but arguably no better game. If you can deal with Rangers at Ibrox then you can deal with anything.

The one thing Hibs can't do is go there and be negative. You've got to get the balance right between being defensive and being offensive. St Mirren showed a few weeks ago that Rangers are not infallible. You've got to go and deal with what they've got but you've also got to play your own game. I believe we've got enough players to go and win anywhere, but if we show them any kind of weakness it will be long day.

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