Cowdenbeath boss Jimmy Nicholl has demanded that his team show more character after the Blue Brazil were easy prey for Hibs in a 5-0 thrashing at Easter Road.
The Fife outfit failed to even register a shot on target on Saturday and a toothless performance in attack combined with an inability to defend was a recipe for disaster.
Cowdenbeath remain two points ahead of the relegation play-off place but a run of four defeats in their last five winless matches has given Nicholl cause for concern.
It does not get any easier for the Central Park outfit with visits of Rangers and Queen of the South next up.
But Nicholl wants an improvement in quality and mental attitude.
He said: “I keep saying the same thing but at Cowdenbeath Football Club and the position we’re in in terms of wanting to stay in the Championship, you can’t lose a game when it’s so simple to score.
“You can’t have half tackles, soft tackles. You need character, resilience and you need to be determined to do something.
“When you’re playing Hearts, Hibs and Rangers, it’s like playing three Premier League teams.
“No one expects you to win matches but I expect them to make it more difficult than it was on Saturday.
“I need to make sure the ones that are on the park against Rangers are more determined than the ones that faced Hibs.
“You have to get them regrouped and going again for next week, its a difficult game against Rangers.
“That’s the way it is. It takes character to believe you’ve still got a chance.”
Cowdenbeath were facing an uphill struggle from the ninth minute when Paul Hanlon volleyed in from close range following a Scott Allan corner.
Jason Cummings then notched his sixth goal from five matches after striking Allan’s cutback.
Scott Robertson waltzed into the box to make it three after 74 minutes before Callum Booth fired Sam Stanton’s pass into the net 10 minutes later.
Lewis Stevenson grabbed his first goal in two years with a low 25-yard drive in stoppage time.
Nicholl admits Cowdenbeath came up against a Hibs side firing on all cylinders.
He added: “We were expecting Hibs to come out of the traps quickly because they were probably hurting from last week when they were 3-1 up against Falkirk.
“Their movement was good and it does not help when they’re 2-0 up after 20-odd minutes.
“What do you do there, do you change things to get back in the game or keep it at 2-0 for as long as you can? At half-time, we told them not to lose heart or any belief that they might have.”
With Rangers’ clash against leaders Hearts abandoned on Friday evening due to the inclement weather, Hibs have now cut the deficit on second place to five points.
Stevenson said: “Rangers are in our sights but after we beat them (last month), we drew the next two games and the gap was made even bigger.
“It’s not just the games against Hearts and Rangers you have to rise up to, it’s the games against the so-called smaller teams.
“In the past we’ve not managed to get those wins but we did that on Saturday.”