Hibernian head coach Neil Lennon felt a lack of confidence was probably the major factor in their recent poor run of form.
But Lennon believes last Saturday’s victory over Hamilton has given the players a major lift ahead of Sunday’s visit of Celtic.
Garry Parker criticised the players’ effort levels as Hibs went seven games without victory but Lennon, who is back on media duties after a short break, did not go as far as his assistant.
“It may have been down to confidence more than application but some of them were off the boil,” he said.
“But certainly they are brighter this week and that all comes with the win and feeling good about themselves again.
“A win’s a win because we weren’t playing as well as we could have, and second half we started seeing real shoots of coming back to form.
“It’s given everyone a lift and hopefully now we can get back to the style of football and intensity of performance that we know we are capable of.”
Lennon agreed with Parker’s assertion that Emerson Hyndman’s second-half introduction had been a major factor in Hibs’ improvement and the American midfielder is in line to start on Sunday.
But Hibs will be without Paul Hanlon, David Gray, Marvin Bartley and Thomas Agyepong through injury and the likes of Adam Bogdan, Martin Boyle, Mark Milligan and Charalampos Mavrias are doubtful.
“They are experienced players, which is what you need against a team like Celtic,” Lennon said.
“It compounds the difficulty of the game, but we are not going into it negatively. We scored two goals at Celtic Park, I don’t think many other teams score many goals against them.
“We know we are capable of scoring but we know they are capable of scoring, and in bunches as well.”
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