Hibernian head coach Neil Lennon worried by snow lay-off ahead of Hearts game
Tuesday 6 March 2018 11:33, UK
Neil Lennon admits he is concerned by Hibernian’s lack of action ahead of their Edinburgh derby against Hearts on Friday night.
The Easter Road side will not have played for 13 days by the time the teams kick off live on Sky Sports Football (7.30pm) after snow meant their game with Hamilton was cancelled last midweek.
Hearts, by contrast, have played twice during their rivals' lay-off - drawing with Kilmarnock then losing to Motherwell - and Lennon concedes that is on his mind.
He said: "My only concern is we haven't played since a week last Saturday, while Hearts have had two games in between.
"That could work for them or it could work for us so it will be interesting to see how we approach the game early on, to see if there's any rustiness there.
"There really shouldn't be but with the weather, we've had little time to prepare. Hopefully in the build-up now to the game we can get some more work into the players and have them ready."
Hibs, who currently sit fourth in the Scottish Premiership as they go through their first top-flight campaign since 2013/14, have shown an aptitude for the big occasion this season.
As well as beating both Rangers and Aberdeen in the last month, they have taken a point from Celtic on two occasions with a pair of 2-2 draws.
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Although they were knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Hearts in January, Lennon's team also won and drew with them towards the end of 2017 as part of a nine-match unbeaten run in the derby.
"The big games look after themselves," Lennon added. "You don't need much motivation for it. Players subconsciously raise their games anyway.
"Our recent form has been very, very good and that pleases me. Since the winter break, we've won a lot of games, which is really important at this stage of the season.
"We've really imposed ourselves on the league this year to the extent I'm absolutely thrilled to find ourselves in the position we're in at this minute."
