Stuck on the sidelines these past few weeks, it's been eating away at Nicky Cadden that what he's watched from afar isn't reflected by Hibs' dreary position in the Premiership table.

Since he picked up a quadricep issue which then gave way to a hamstring problem, the summer signing has watched his side slip to the bottom of the table. The toughest watch of all was against Sunday's opponents, Dundee United. Cadden couldn't believe how it all unravelled a few weeks ago at Tannadice, so firm is his belief that Hibs did almost everything right for 85 minutes.

A solitary win from 10 games is all they have to show for their season to date, and it's certainly turned up the pressure at Easter Road - from pitch, to dugout, to boardroom. A stuffy goalless draw with Ross County on Wednesday night did little to lighten the mood of an anxious fanbase, but Cadden remains steadfast in his belief that one win, be it ugly or otherwise, could be transformative.

Obviously, the games where I've been injured, I'm watching and I'm going 'we're a really good team here'. We're playing good stuff and maybe it's the ball just not falling in the box at the right time. We're just not getting that rub of the green. Obviously, on Wednesday, Jordan Obita had a shot and it took a deflection and went straight into the keeper's hands. If you're doing well, that goes in the top corner or goes the other side of the keeper. Once we get that next win, I think it will change everything. 

For about 85 minutes against Dundee United, we were really good. Obviously, things happen in the game and we came away with a defeat, but we need to take the positives. As I said, we played well.. It's not just the final bit of decision-making or keeping it tight at the back, just trying to see the game out. We never did in that game, but hopefully we can do it on Sunday."

Head coach David Gray is well aware of the narrative around Hibs, and he's been first to front up and admit that results haven't been good enough. And while it's his job to coach better from his players, he also has to ensure they don't lose belief in themselves, to accentuate the positives wherever he can. Not taking chances has been an issue, and Gray has emphasised to his players that they cannot become disheartened with it, that they must keep putting themselves out there and start 'playing within themselves'.

"You need to know when you're doing well, the situations, how you got to that point, for example, and take the confidence from it to make sure the players keep putting themselves in that position. Sometimes you might have to make 10, 15 runs into the box and not get the ball for that one time for it to fall to you, so I don't want the players to stop doing it.

£I don't want the players to play within themselves. There's a freedom to go and play, especially in the final third, and to play with that belief that you're going to go and affect the game, especially what we've got in the dressing room and what we've got available to us. We need to be maximising that and as I've already said, we've got a chance at home here where we can hopefully start the game on the front foot and really put a statement down this weekend."

Given what happened on Tayside a few weeks back, there should be no shortage of motivation to make that statement. Hibs, leading 2-1 in the 85th minute, imploded across an incredible 14 minutes following captain Joe Newell's red card, with United's Meshack Ubochioma winning it with the last kick of the game. And while Gray says Hibs cannot repeat the same mistakes, he also knows that they cannot let that manic spell define their mindset heading into Sunday's rematch when, for long spells at Tannadice, they were in control.

Read more:

I think that's been a similar theme for quite a while, when you look at the context of some of the games and situations we've found ourselves in in games at times," said Gray. "Obviously, the red card at the time doesn't help, it shifts momentum against us at that stage in the game, but we obviously know we needed to see the game out a bit better. One thing I have already said is we can't worry about things we can't affect, which is what's happened previously. It's about learning from it, moving on from it and trying to rectify these mistakes and issues we've had, which then if you look at the Ross County game, defensively I thought we were excellent. We take a lot of confidence from that and we need to start the game on the front foot and really express ourselves this weekend."