Jordan Obita spoke to the media ahead of Hibs' Premier Sports Cup clash with Peterhead at Easter Road on Saturday. Here's everything he had to say...

How do you reflect on the start to the season that you guys have had so far?

"Pre-season time in the friendlies we’ve done really well, we've had positive results. The first cup game we did really well as well against Elgin. We let ourselves down, obviously, in the cup game against Kelty. We know we should have been better, we should have had a good result, we had quite a lot of chances to get ahead of the game.  But we've got a game tomorrow, we need to win and progress to the next round."

How important is it to get that win tomorrow after what happened at Kelty?

"Whenever you lose it's a setback, but we've been working hard this week on the pitch to get a positive result tomorrow, to progress to the next round.  Also, we've got another game against St Mirren next weekend."

You're coming up to 50 games at Hibs, so how do you reflect on that first year?

"It's been good, I've had a lot of games last year, probably more than I expected, but hopefully I can do that again this year."

Does that just let them know what kind of club they're at, and the expectation that comes with it?

"Yeah, it's a massive club. Even for me last year I didn't know exactly how big, but when you start playing and getting used to everything around here, you start realising it's a massive club."

In terms of expectation, was there a specific moment for you where you realised, 'OK I get it now'?

"Yeah, it's a big city, a big, massive rivalry in the city as well. Once you maybe lose a couple of games, you start realising, okay, you've stopped performing to the standard that we were expecting to be at."

What was the manager like after the Kelty game? 

"It was our first defeat as well in the whole pre-season. We played obviously, PAOK and a tough game, beat them.  Probably a bit of a reality check to realise that we need to be at that level every single game. “Obviously, what gets said in the changing room, we couldn't be too down about it, we had  another game to focus on as well. He just said basically that we're much better than that and let's put it right for the next game after."

As you did last year, guys like Marvin Ekpiteta and Warren O'Hora have come up from England. What have you told them about the differences with Scottish football and the adjustments that you need to make? 

"The first thing I said is that it's different to English football. Different games, different styles. When you play against Rangers, you're not going to have the ball, so you have to be very organised and you have to defend for your lives. When you're playing other teams, you probably have more ball than not, but you just need to make the most of it when you do play."

So, it's more extremes in Scottish football?

"Yes, in England, it's not like playing against a Premier League team and then playing against a team from the Championship or League One. In England, you're obviously in that division, so you're always playing against the same sort of standard.  I did say something about Rangers and the Premier League and Champions League teams. Other teams in the league are probably not as good as them, but as we see every season in the league, they always win trophies. We need to try and get to that standard as well."

How hard is that for you as a full-back? Maybe 80% of the games you're expected to go bombing forward, and then there's these four, five, six games in a year where you're really being tested defensively?

"It's a good test because you want to play against the best players and the best teams that you can play against. Whether I'm playing Celtic or I'm playing teams down near the bottom, I want to try and be better than them. That's my ultimate target."

Is the disappointment from last week tempered by the fact that it's not a knockout game, and you get the chance to go again?

"To be fair the gaffer did say that, We would have been out. That's why we can’t drop our standards. We've got another chance tomorrow to put it right and knock those teams out and make progress for the next round."

Your would obviously prefer to look forward to European games, but do these League Cup games in a sense almost give you a wee head start? 

We've had to go into these games early and try and perform and get our fitness as quick as we can.  Most teams are probably doing friendlies now and it's not as competitive. I think we're in a good place and we can look forward to hopefully tomorrow for a positive result and also next weekend."

It's never too early to build momentum, is it?

"No, of course not. Normally in the camp we look to try and get the fitness going, but we want to try and get the fitness and the results. Just try and be as positive as we can."

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Player of the Year last season, are you hoping to emulate those standards again?

"To be fair, even last year it was never in my mind. I've always wanted to try and dominate on the pitch, dominate my opponent, who I'm playing against individually and also as a team to win. So that's always my target. To win the players' award is really nice because I'm with them every single day. They're part of my basically family and it's nice that they thought well of me."

After winning an award, do you into the next season with an added feeling of responsibility?

"Yeah, it gives me a massive confidence boost. My level is always, I always want to be one of the best.  Hopefully again this year I can prove that again.”