Tuesday 21 February 2017 21:01, UK
Hibernian boss Neil Lennon is confident his players will be ready for a testing Scottish Cup fifth-round replay against Hearts at Easter Road, on Wednesday.
The Edinburgh rivals clash for the second time in 11 days following a stalemate at Tynecastle, when the teams struggled on a poor playing surface.
After a solid display for the Scottish Cup holders in that match, Lennon was unhappy to see Hibernian's lead at the top of the Championship cut to seven points following a 1-1 draw with Raith Rovers.
But the former Celtic manager has been happy with the response of his players following his criticism of that performance, and is hopeful Hibs will progress to a home quarter-final tie with Ayr.
Speaking on Sky Sports News HQ, Lennon said: "They reacted as I would expect them to. They've been up and at it in the last couple of days.
"I wasn't happy and I had every right not to be happy with the performance following on from such a strong performance against Hearts in the first game.
"So, I just expect more and I'm sure our supporters expected more as well. And certainly the players did, but it's fine, it's gone now and we are all looking forward to tomorrow night.
"The atmosphere will be raw, both sets of players will thrive on the atmosphere, as will both sets of fans. We are all excited about it.
"But we are the cup holders, we want to prevail, we want to progress in both competitions that we are still in, and it just makes the season very exciting at this stage."
