Jim Jefferies welcomes Hibernian

15/07/14; JJ - "Hibs will provide us with a good quality game. I have said before, the better the teams you play the more harder work you have to put in and you have to concentrate hard.

Jim Jefferies welcomes everybody back to the new season and what is a really good opening fixture for the club.

"We are delighted to host our first major game against a club like Hibs. We had the Spartans tournament at the weekend but I am really looking forward to this game against Hibs and there should be a lot of interest from the Hibs fans who will travel across. There have made a lot of changes at Easter Road, a lot of players have left but their supporters will be eager to come and support Alan Stubbs their new manager.

"Hibs will provide us with a good quality game. I have said before, the better the teams you play the more harder work you have to put in and you have to concentrate hard. That is what it is all about and the result well? I don't get too high when we win, I don't get too low when we lose. It is all about what you get out of it.

"It can build confidence which is always a good thing but irrespective of how the result goes our team will get worked hard and hopefully we can work Hibs hard as well.

"We had a great season finishing twelve points clear in second place - if it hadn't been for Rangers we would have been champions. But there are no guarantees when you get into the play offs because you are playing a team from a higher division. Cowdenbeath are a good team but even though we felt comfortable in the away leg of the play off final. Unfortunately they got off to a good start here at East End and we never recovered. Whether the occasion got to the young players I do not know; it was a blow for the club and the supporters.

"The target this time is to go up as champions this time, let's forget about play offs but it won't be easy because other teams will have the same desire especially Morton who have come down. We feel that we have strengthened the team; I think we have a stronger squad now and they are a year older so hopefully they will have learned from all the mistakes that they made last year.

"The boys have come back in good shape, we went straight into double training sessions from the day they arrived. They have seen a lot of the ball and last Wednesday we took them away to Gullane beach for a wee bit of a change. Pitreavie is great and it is in good condition; it is great there but sometimes when you get away there's a bit of banter that is good for the team spirit and bonding.

"The fans have shown that they are going to be right behind us by snapping up the season tickets. They have got over the disappointment and I think that had a lot to do with us acting early to bring in the players that we did. They are looking forward to it and we want to repay them by trying to go up as champions.