Rallying cry from Stubbs

The Hibees entertain Alloa in the penultimate round of fixtures on Saturday, as they look to put pressure on a Rangers side currently a point above them in second in the more favourable play-off spot.

Fans watched their Hibs side suffer Hampden heartbreak at the hands of Falkirk in their 1-0 defeat in the Scottish Cup semi-final last weekend but Stubbs has backed them to give the players the lift they need to secure promotion.

He told Hibs TV: "There has been games this season where the fans have turned it around for us and helped us to get over the line which hopefully over the next four weeks is going to prove vital.

"They have to be the 12th man for us. We want to fill Easter Road. My job will not be done until I see a full Easter Road."

Queen of the South can secure a play-off spot by beating Dumbarton while Hearts face Cowdenbeath at Central Park, but midfielder Sam Nicholson is already looking forward to next season and showing the Premiership just how much he and his team-mates have improved.

"Last season wasn't a good season for us, a lot was going on, and this season we have all picked up confidence by winning the league," he said. "It will be good to take that into the top league again.

"There was a lot of doom and gloom last season and it's not nice for fans to experience Hearts being relegated. I'm a Hearts fan as well and it wasn't nice being in the team that got them relegated.

"But it definitely helped a lot of the players. Me, Jamie Walker, Billy King, Jordan McGhee have all been playing and it has done us well. We have picked up a lot of experience and we have still being playing in a hard league.

"We have all benefited from it and we have all improved and we are looking forward to taking that into next season."