The ravages of a particularly fierce Scottish winter has done nothing to help the Hibernian cause, that much has become clear in recent weeks when the Easter Road side have tried to play their passing game on surfaces that simply do not lend themselves to such a style. Derek Riordan is one of the players who has perhaps suffered most - but the striker knows that along with the rest of the side he needs to simply adapt to the new challenge with the finishing line now just over the horizon.

Hibernian go into the game against Kilmarnock tomorrow with the added disadvantage of what will perhaps be a surreal atmosphere at Easter Road, the normal encouragement from the East Stand will not exist again for another seven months at least - but the noise form the remaining three sides of the stadium will hopefully be greater than ever as a result.

And the side will need every bit of help they can get, with a win of Killie vital to get the challenge for third place firmly back on track. Riordan said "Everyone goes through these wee blips where they are not picking up points, we felt we should have won on Saturday against St Johnstone - but we have had good results recently such as the one against Celtic at Parkhead so we are not grumbling, we know we just have to keep pushing and try to pick up as many points as we can from now to the end of the season."

It was apparent against St Johnstone on Saturday that Riordan was as determined as ever, having been dropped for the game a week earlier at Motherwell he was clearly doing everything he could to show his commitment to the cause: "I think I'm working as hard as I've ever done, but the results have just not gone our way lately. The pitches are a problem and on a good decent surface we can beat anyone I think, but the surfaces have not been good recently and we need to work through that. I was dropped for the game at Motherwell because the manager did not feel the surface would suit my game and I understood that, pitches like that do not suit our style of play because we are not a big physical side.

"We have to adapt - Colin Nish has been in there because he can hold the ball up well for us and so that has helped a bit, he has been working very hard for us up front. But if you look at our team I think I'm regarded as one of the taller ones in there! Rankin, Miller, Stevenson, Cregg, Zemmama - so it suits other teams to play the long ball game to their big players. St Johnstone did that well with Deuchar and Sheridan the targets and they did well with that type of game, we have to combat that. We have a good football team here, we're not known for kicking the ball long but we have to find a way to play our game."

On a wider stage the striker was disappointed not to be involved again in the Scotland squad this week: "Obviously I want to be in the Scotland squad, to do that again I have to go out every game and try to do well and win a place again. I think I'm doing alright in left midfield so I just need to keep doing well and hopefully get back into the squad, end of the day it depends on what type of players the manager wants in his squad. The gaffer has me working hard - he has us all working hard."

Meanwhile it has now been confirmed that Hibernian's SPL game against Celtic at Easter Road, scheduled for Saturday 3rd April, has been switched to Sunday 4th April with a 1.15pm kick off.