Hibs refocus for Cup final after play-off heartache
They're looking to bounce back
Hibs boss Alan Stubbs revealed a form of group therapy is one way his players will refocus for Saturday's William Hill Scottish Cup final against Rangers at Hampden Park.
The Easter Road side's hopes of promotion to the Ladbrokes Premiership ended last Friday against Falkirk when Bob McHugh scored a stoppage-time winner in the second-leg of the play-off semi-final to take the Bairns through on a 5-4 aggregate.
The devastating defeat means Hibs will be in the Championship for a third successive season.
However, speaking at the national stadium, where the Leith side lost the League Cup final to Ross County in March, the Hibs boss insisted he was happy that his players were helping each other to get over their play-off disappointment to try to bring the Scottish Cup back to Leith for the first time since 1902.
"When you have a really good group of players, sometimes you don't have to say anything because this game speaks for itself," he said.
"Giving them a couple of days away from the training ground has helped them get over the disappointment.
"Sometimes you want to talk to your team-mates and the way things are now, they are all involved in social media so if they want to have a group chat they can.
"It is a little bit like therapy.
"It is good to talk at times, go over the game, where they felt it could have gone better, where they felt it went wrong and it is good to be able to bounce question and answers off each other.
"Sometimes it may take someone else just to turn the light bulb on and make you think about something that you maybe wouldn't have thought about yourself.
"As a group of players they are a pleasure to work with, they get on fantastically well.
"Some of them wouldn't have wanted to chat which is fine but I know that working with them this week they are ready for Saturday."