High hopes for a result at Hibs

Dec 11 2008 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

SIMON Mensing warned Hibs to expect a Hamilton backlash on Saturday as the New Douglas Park side attempts to rectify their 7-1 mauling at the hands of Rangers.

Midfielder Mensing insists the spirit has been high in training all week, and that Hamilton’s thoughts are solely on getting back on track, rather than dwelling on their Ibrox massacre.

He said: “It’s a hard one to bounce back from. Ideally you want a home game, but we’ve got Hibs away on Saturday. We’re eager to bounce back, and we’re looking forward to it, irrespective of the defeat.

“Getting beat, although it was 7-1, was against one of the Old Firm and they’re obviously the two best teams in the country. It’s how we respond to that, put it behind us and move on that is important.

“I think we can use the defeat as a spur, and we’ll certainly be up for it – even more so than usual.

“We were beaten heavily, we have to rectify that, and all the players will want to, so I’m sure we’ll put a good performance in on Saturday.”

Mensing believes it’s not good to look back too much on what was a disastrous day on Saturday, but rather to put it in perspective.

He explained: “It’s a heavy defeat, but at the end of the day it’s only three points and it’s against Rangers; you go into those games knowing that if you take anything it’s a bonus.”

Simon said Hamilton considered themselves unfortunate not to take at least a point from Hibs when they visited on September 20; instead the Easter Roadside won 1-0 thanks to a Derek Riordan wonder-strike.

With Mixu Paatelainen’s men enjoying a shock 2-0 home win over Celtic on Sunday, Simon knows grabbing three points won’t be easy, but said: “We’re still confident and we feel that we can compete with Hibs.

“When we played them here we lost 1-0 but we came out and played really well in the second half and just couldn’t get the goal that we thought our play deserved.

“We’re not down and although obviously Saturday wasn’t the best result, as a team we want to put that right and we’ll be looking to take something from Hibs on Saturday.

“Quite often when a team beats one half of the Old Firm they slip up in their next game and we hope that’s the case on Saturday, but after beating Celtic you’re going to be sky-high in confidence.

“So all we can do is concentrate on ourselves, make sure we do put in another good shift and a good performance, and hopefully take something from the game.

“We’re looking to bounce back, and hopefully we can do that on Saturday.”