Heckingbottom said: "We'd still be playing pre-season games down there, which I hated.

"You want them to mean something, the feedback is more relevant, your expectations on players are more relevant. You sometimes feel like you are contradicting yourself  saying it's about fitness and there's lots of bad habits.

"I just don't enjoy them. I don't have the same feeling on the sideline. I want to be in games where you want to win.

"In that respect, I prefer it, definitely."

Heckingbottom has kept an eye on Elgin's games.

"They have been pretty direct, well organised," he said. "I would expect them to defend deep and deny space, which makes it difficult."

Hibs are still without Vykintas Slivka, Ryan Porteous, David Gray and Lewis Stevenson through injury.