Hibs' Rankin says hassle could be worth it

JOHN RANKIN admits that Hibs' pre-season campaign has been far from pleasant viewing for the club's supporters.

But the midfielder believes that the tough physical tests and harsh lessons they have faced so far could just give the Easter Road side the edge in the SPL.

Mixu Paatelainen's side take on Kilmarnock this weekend coming off the back of a winless run of eight pre-season games which saw them knocked out of the InterToto Cup and included a 6-0 lesson at the hands of Barcelona and defeats to both Cowdenbeath and Clyde.

They rounded off their friendly games with another defeat, this time a 1-0 reverse to Wigan on Tuesday night, however, there were signs that a sharpness is beginning to return to the Hibs side. Having scored two goals in the previous game at home to Middlesbrough just a few days earlier, they again created chances, although this time failed to convert them.

But Rankin is confident that Hibs will be firing on all cylinders in time for the trip to Rugby Park and at peak fitness after several testing matches over the past six weeks.

Admitting that the InterToto Cup exit at the hands of Elfsborg still rankled with the players, Rankin said: "Obviously we started the competitive stuff really early in our season and unfortunately lost to Elfsborg, but the thing that we have always had our eye on has been the Kilmarnock game.

"It's fair enough to say that maybe the short break and coming straight back into it hasn't really worked out that well for us in terms of the results, but hopefully it will help us in the long run and maybe give us that little bit of an edge when we get back to the league business this weekend.

"In the first couple of games we played – against Elfsborg and the first of the friendly games – I think that we were still trying to find our feet a bit.

"Obviously when you've been away for a couple of months – or even just a few weeks like us – and you haven't kicked a ball in that period of time, it can take a wee while to get back into the way of it properly.

"People have got to remember that Elfsborg are a good, experienced team.

"Maybe they aren't very well known because they are from Sweden but we knew that they had good players and that they would be tough opponents.

"We maybe struggled a bit in those games, there's no hiding that fact, but there's nothing we can do about that now.

"The manager had already stressed that, for him, it was more about getting competitive games under our belts and getting our match fitness back up to where it should be.

"We've had some disappointing results but, to be honest, we have not had any easy games either. Barcelona, Wigan and Middlesbrough have all been really tough. But the games against Cowdenbeath and Clyde – no disrespect to them – are games that we should really be winning.

"We put ourselves under a lot of unnecessary pressure by losing both of them."

The former Ross County star says his side won't allow the pressure to get to them and insisted that there will be an even bigger improvement in his side when they step out of the tunnel at Rugby Park on Saturday.

He continued: "I think that everyone could see on Tuesday night that we were much sharper than we have been of late and we're not far away. I think that, come Saturday, we will step it up again.

"I think that the improvement in us will be obvious, particularly with a real competitive edge about us again.

"One thing the fans can be sure of is that we will be right up for it.

"Tuesday against Wigan will have been good preparation. It was a good physical game, I took a few heavy knocks – I had to check my teeth were still there at one point!

"But obviously they play at a higher level than we do and so it was good to get a real good challenge like that so close to the start of the season."

Rankin did indeed take some tough knocks against Steve Bruce's side, being clattered at least three times in the 45 minutes that he was on the park.

He admitted: "Tuesday's game against Wigan can only benefit us because they were a big physical team. That's the sort of pressure you would come under week in, week out in the Premier League, so I am sure that it will prove to have been a good exercise for us."

There is huge competition for places in the Easter Road starting line-up right now, with Paatelainen keen to have at least two players for every position on the park.

And Rankin knows that will mean disappointment for those players left to cool their heels on the bench or in the stand. But he believes that it can only be good for the club. He added: "We've got a good-sized squad now, there are a lot of players available in every position all over the field, but particularly in the midfield.

"There were 22 players involved against Wigan and I think there were another eight over and above that who were in for training on Tuesday morning.

"On top of that we've got Yves (Ma-Kalambay] away to the Olympics, so the competition for places at the club is just fantastic, especially at this time of the year. There are only a few days to go before the kick-off and it was good that all 22 of the players who were in the squad got a run-out.

"Obviously every single one of us is desperate to start against Kilmarnock and get a decent run of games in the SPL but, unfortunately, we know that not everyone is going to be able to do that.

"Even though a lot of players will be left disappointed, the competition for places is great for the club because it means that everyone has to be on top of their game if they want to be selected every week."

Rankin joined Hibs around the same time that Paatelainen took over at Easter Road and the former Manchester United kid was disappointed to miss out on a UEFA Cup place in the final weeks of the season.

However, he believes that the Edinburgh side can go one better and secure a European spot this time around if they can get their season off to a flier in Ayrshire on Saturday. He said: "The first six months here for me was a real settling in period but it was great to come in and make a real push for the top six and get into it.

"Unfortunately, we didn't quite get there in terms of one of the European places but hopefully we can put that right this time around. Saturday is the start of a new season, I'm raring to go and hopefully we can get off on the right foot with a win over Kilmarnock."