Allan Johnston fears Hibs will be riding the crest of a wave when they face his Dunfermline side.
Johnston was at Easter Road on Wednesday night to take in Hibs’ 3-1 victory over their Edinburgh rivals but also saw tomorrow’s opponents turn in a disappointing display in drawing 1-1 with Raith Rovers last weekend.
That performance drew stinging criticism from manager Neil Lennon but the public dressing down drew the perfect response against Hearts.
Johnston would love Hibs’ inconsistency to return this weekend but knows the Pars must be prepared for the capital outfit starting where they left off against Hearts.
He said: “They’ve got a lot of good players and there’s going to be a massive crowd. I’m sure they’ll get a big lift after playing like that and getting a victory against their rivals.
“So, we’ve got to make sure we start the game right and play at our very best.
“I’m sure they’ll come out of the blocks really fast after getting the momentum of the other night. We’ve got to make sure we handle that and try to frustrate them.
“Hibs are big favourites and we’re going to their place, so it would be a great game to pick up a win.”
Dunfermline were idle last weekend because of the Irn-Bru Cup semi-finals and are still stewing over their own Scottish Cup exit against Hamilton Accies in their replay 10 days ago.
Johnston admits the defeat still hurts but he is hopeful his side can take confidence from being able to more than match Premiership opponents in over three hours of cup football.
He added: “We did enough to win the game against Accies and the boys were rightly frustrated. We should have been in the next round.
“We showed we can compete at that level, and Hibs are a like a Premiership team. We know we’ll have to be at that level again.”
Johnston was forced to cancel training yesterday when players and staff got caught up in the travel chaos that hit the country with the heavy snowfall of Storm Doris.
