Hibernian needs to keep doing what they have been - and better, that is the verdict of skipper Chris Hogg this week as he continues to work hard on keeping the entire squad grounded and focussed.

Hogg surveyed the season so far with quiet satisfaction - but had to point out that the season is barely one third of the way through, and the real work will be in building on the good start to the campaign. The visit of Rangers to Easter Road on Sunday is a major test but the club captain knows that the entire league campaign will not stand or fall on one match: "Our next game is always our biggest no matter who it might be against - and we have to go down the same lines for this game as well. I don't think we can get carried away with what we are doing at this moment in time - we are only 16 games into the season.

"Of course we are more than happy with where we are but what we have achieved so far is just a platform from which we can build on for the rest of the season. There would be no point in us playing 16 games well and then falling away for the rest of the season, so it is a case of understanding where we are at and understanding as a football club where we have to go."

Having been named skipper in the summer, there was some conjecture that the added responsibility might impact on his personal game, but Hogg is adamant that it has made very little difference:  "It has not really effected me that much, you have to talk to the young guys a bit more perhaps but to be honest that is part of my character in any case, talking to other players and encouraging them, taking them to one side - so it has not changed that much.

"For my form at the start of the season there was a little dip in confidence and that was perhaps the first time in two or three years where that has happened, it is though something that gave me a sense of realism if you like and I hope that I can just go from strength to strength now."   There is certainly no lacking in confidence within the Hibernian squad as they sit down to their Christmas lunch tomorrow:   "We do have a real confidence and hunger now to win football games, we have been lucky enough a few times to grind results out while we've played quite well in a few games. It is a good trait to have in a team and is what all the top teams have, if we can carry on building on that for the rest of the season then who knows what can happen.

"But really if you were to ask me after 37 games if we have a chance and we are still up there then yes I might admit we have a shot! Until that happens we have to keep ourselves grounded, and that is what got us to where we are now. A lot has been made of our start but really we've not done anything yet."   Missing on Sunday will be the influential figure of Sol Bamba - again however Hogg points out that the side have managed without his services before:  "Losing Sol is part of football and there are other teams in the league that will lose good players at different times this season.

"Sol has done a great job for us this year but we have played games without him being in the team and did well. Our back four has had a bit of shuffling this season and still managed to perform - the manager will bring in whoever he decides to bring in and I'm more than confident that whoever that might be will do a job for us. It should be a good game on Sunday, Rangers are playing well and we are not doing so badly ourselves. Hopefully this will be a good entertaining game, we will certainly be working very hard to prepare ourselves correctly and we will be going into this game hoping that we can win it."