STRIKER Steven Fletcher admitted his side were left chasing shadows as Barcelona took control at Murrayfield. But the Hibs hitman insists that confidence among his team-mates remains high, despite the 6-0 defeat and the fact that his side have put the ball in the back of the net just once in five matches.
The Easter Road outfit lost four without reply over their two-legged InterToto tie with Swedish side Elfsborg, beat Forfar by one goal and drew 0-0 with Raith Rovers before last night's match.
And Fletch said: "It would have been good to get a cou
ple of goals but it was never going to happen. We've played a few now without scoring but, to be honest, I am not bothered how we do in the friendly games. I am just looking forward to the start of the season and as long as we are playing well by then, then I am happy with that. We're training well, we're scoring goals in training and the confidence is still high so there's not a problem in that respect. It's just not been coming off for us lately.
"We're not used to having to go straight into competitive games, usually even when we are in the InterToto Cup we manage to arrange a friendly or two but it wasn't possible this time around.
"But we're getting there and I think that playing competitive games so quickly, and playing friendlies against the likes of Barcelona, Middlesbrough and Wigan can only stand us in good stead for the start of the SPL campaign."
Fletcher, who was reported to be attracting interest from Spanish side Real Madrid, lasted just over an hour after hurting his shin in training earlier in the week but he insisted that it was nothing serious and that, despite the heavy defeat, the match had been a good learning curve for him and his team-mates. He added: "I did something in training the other day with the nerve down my shin. I felt it a bit as the game went on but it's nothing to worry about. Hopefully it will be okay in a couple of days. It was disappointing to lose by that scoreline but it was still a good experience, playing against boys of that class."
The full article contains 392 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
