Liam Henderson won’t use Hibs’ cup runs as an excuse for dropping points at Livingston on Saturday.
After Sevco’s 1-1 draw at Alloa the Edinburgh side could have cut the gap at the top of the table down to six points- with a game in hand- by winning at second bottom Livi.
It was an afternoon of frustration for Henderson as Livi put up the shutters before coming strong at the end chasing full points.
Hearts visit Easter Road tomorrow night in a Scottish Cup replay but despite that tie Henderson insists that his focus is on claiming automatic promotion.
“We weren’t distracted by the Hearts game at all,” the on loan midfielder said. “We showed Livingston the utmost respect, like we do with every team.
“We did the exact same things we would do if we had been playing Hearts. It was nothing to do with the Cup game. It was a bad day at the office when nothing seemed to click.
“You also have to give credit to Livingston. They made it hard for us and we couldn’t break them down.
“If you look at the best teams in the world, they all have days when they struggle to break teams down — we are no different.
“It’s rare that we don’t score in a game. At Hibs, you are expected to win every game and we were all disappointed, but we need to bounce back and keep working hard.”
On Sunday Hibs host Alloa in the league before playing their game in hand, at home to Morton, three days later.