Josh Mulligan has backed the Hibernian dressing room to rally together and bounce back quickly from derby defeat, ahead of their Premiership clash with St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.
The 23-year-old midfielder, who featured for the full 90 minutes as Hibs fell to a 3-1 defeat to city rivals Hearts, bemoaned a 'tough' night at Easter Road on Thursday. But, Mulligan was quick to admit that Hibs need to 'take it on the chin', and reset their focus to put in an improved performance on Sunday.
That, he believes, will be a task made easier by the strength of character in the Hibs dressing room.
Without singling out individual voices, Mulligan believes that the squad harmony Hibs have created will allow them to push the hurt and frustration aside, and instead concentrate on getting back to winning ways on the road.
Speaking after Thursday night's defeat, he spoke about the importance of sticking together and 'going again', after a sobering night in Leith.
"There is good characters in the group," Mulligan asserted. "There are leaders in the group. And I think after a loss like that, you need that and you need to go again and bounce back.
"It's hard to pick out [individual leaders]; as a group, as a collective, there are a lot of characters in there. You know, we need to stick together, especially after tonight, because it wasn't good enough.
"Especially that first half, the way we came out wasn't good enough. Obviously, we get a reaction in the second half, but ultimately, you know, we lose the game. So we need to go again."
Mulligan isn't long back from an injury which cut his 2025/26 campaign cruelly short in January – but the young midfielder quashed the notion that his extended time on the sideline should limit his performances in any way.
With 11 appearances under his belt so far this term, Mulligan believes he is getting back to the high levels he demonstrated during his pre-injury spell in green and white.
"I knew it would take a few games to get up to speed," he admitted, "but I'm starting to feel good.
"But I include myself in that [performance] tonight; we lose as a team, we need to go again – and I'm looking at Sunday just to get three points and a good performance.
"There are no excuses," he added, when asked if his time out injured was a mitigating factor. "That's just football. You need to be at it every game, and I know that – and that's the level I want to be at.
"I need to go again, so do the rest of the boys. We need to stand up, take it on the chin, and go again."
The season is still early, with plenty of time to put together a string of improved performances in all competitions. That's a big source of motivation for a young, hungry player like Mulligan.
Particularly so, when Sebastian Pocognoli's eyes were on Thursday's match, as he begins to mould his Scotland squad. Mulligan was quick to admit that he 'wasn't really thinking about that' on Thursday but, over the course of the season, he has the opportunity to get him name into the Belgian's plans.
A good collective – and individual – performance in Perth is as good a place to start along that road as any, with Mulligan confident that Hibs have the quality to turn things around from Thursday's disappointment.
"It's obviously early on in the season; there's still a lot of football to be played," he said. "But we need to do more.
"I think we've got players in there to, like you say, we could go on a run, but we need to do more. And that's starting on Sunday."
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