Archives

VIDEO: Still a long way to go, says Miller

Published: 05-04-2017 10:50
image1 (102)
Hibernians coach Mark Miller feels that his team are hitting peak form at the right time but warned that there’s still a long way to go in the title race. A 3-1 win over fellow title challengers and long-time leaders Balzan combined with Valletta’s 1-1 draw against Floriana on Sunday enabled Hibernians to open a five-point gap at the top with only six games left. Victory over Valletta tonight would cement Hibernians’ status as title favourites but Miller, who succeeded Branko Nisevic as head coach last summer, is not getting carried away. “Absolutely, it’s far from over, there’s a long way to go,” Miller told www.mfa.com.mt. “We have to first secure Europe and then there is the championship. We are up there, so we have to try and fight for that. “We’ve been given this opportunity, so we need to fight, the players’ mentality has to be right. But there becomes a different pressure with the team now because expectations are different. There is more chance of disappointments than expectations where before it was the other way round... ‘can we do it, can we do it’. “Now it’s like ‘we have to do it’, so that brings an extra pressure and I said against Balzan, it’s how strong mentally we are and how much do we want it more than anyone else and that shows in the football, then it’s up to the players to go and do to that. “We prepare, we’ve done everything. The players have been great, they’ve listened, we’ve tried to improve in certain areas, we’re not perfect, things have gone our way sometimes, things haven’t and we just kept going. “We need to take one game at a time and this is our next game in a difficult week. We knew we had a difficult week and we play a very good side who are going to give us a real tough game, we know that, so it’s going to be another battle.” Unbeaten in their last seven league games, Hibernians appear to have found their best form at the right time but Miller insisted that confidence plays a key role. “I hope so but I had felt that in training,” Miller replied when asked if Hibs are peaking in the title run-in. “I felt that we were looking sharp and astorng, certain players were coming to a bit of form where they had been a bit disappointing during the season for their normal levels but we managed to get through that and still survive. “I think It’s important that you peak but peaking, what does that mean? For me it’s confidence, if you have confidence you’re at your best and I think at the moment we have confidence but we have to not be too confident and think that we can just go out and win a game of football.” Miller envisages another stern test in tonight’s clash with Valletta for whom anything less than victory would leave their title hopes hanging by a thread. “They’ve got to come but I still think they’ll have a tactical plan,” Miller said. “They have looked at us, Balzan looked at us, the coaches have done their homework. They have a plan where they think they can beat like we do them but we’ll see which players take that plan better. “Then you’ve got the luck, and everything else. It’s a good game and I’m looking forward to it.”