REACHING the League Cup and Scottish Cup finals and finishing third in the Ladbrokes Championship in the course of the same campaign would be considered successful for the majority of second tier clubs.

However, for Hibernian, who have suffered heartache in the play-offs in the last two seasons not to mention liberal doses of misery in cup competitions over the years, that would certainly not be the case.

Lewis Stevenson was helpless to prevent the Easter Road outfit from being relegated from the top flight two years ago – and then unable to ensure they bounced straight back up again 12 months ago.

As he prepared to face Raith Rovers at Stark’s Park in the first leg of the Premiership play-off quarter-final this evening, Stevenson summed up the attitude that prevails in the dressing room as well as in the stands at his club.

Alan Stubbs and his players have no intention of being losers once again either in this series of fixtures or in the Scottish Cup final they will contest against Rangers at Hampden later this month.

“Getting to two cup finals is a great achievement for a Championship club, but I don’t think I would remember the season too fondly if we didn’t win anything and didn’t get promotion,” said Stevenson. “It could be the best season I have had at Hibs if we do everything right in the coming weeks.”

The 28-year-old certainly has plenty of experience of the sort of occasion he will once again encounter when he takes to the field in front of a raucous crowd in his home town of Kirkcaldy this evening.

He played in both legs of the play-off final two years ago when Hibs lost on penalties to Hamilton as well as in the semi-final last year when they were knocked out by Rangers over two games.

The left back, then, will know precisely what to expect when play gets underway this evening. He believes that, despite what is at stake, his side need to treat it like any other game in order to perform at their best and prevail.

“I can’t remember the last time I didn’t have a stressful end to a season,” he said. “I am pretty used to it now. You just have to focus on the match itself. There is a lot of stuff that goes around them, off the pitch stuff, but it is just a football match at the end of the day. It is what we have been trained to do. We just have to be the better team over the two legs.

“I will probably be nervous before the game, but I get nervous before any game during the season, including at home to Alloa and Dumbarton. I think nerves are a good thing. You need them to keep you concentrated and keep you going.”

Stubbs took Hibs abroad for a warm-weather training camp during the 18-day break between their final league game and the first leg of the semi-final against Rangers at Ibrox last year. However, their stint in Spain proved to no avail – his side still slumped to a 2-1 aggregate defeat.

Stevenson believes that having to keep on playing won’t prevent his side from achieving their ultimate goal if they do manage to emerge from the Raith Rovers matches tonight and on Saturday triumphant.

“I welcomed the break we got last year because it had been a long hard season,” he said. “But we have been doing this for the last month and a half so hopefully we can keep going. As soon as the game starts you get your second wind and you feel fine.”

Stevenson harbours no sense of injustice at the fact that Hibs will have to negotiate six games to go up – while the club which finishes second bottom in the top division only has two matches to worry about.

“I think we have savoured every position in it just about so I can’t really argue about the way it’s gone,” he said. “It didn’t work out for us when we finished second bottom or when we finished second. Maybe it’s going to work out alright now that we’ve finished second.”

Hibs were unable to better the goal difference recorded by Falkirk, who they finished level on points with in the final Championship table, despite scoring nine times in their last four games against Rangers, Morton, Dumbarton and Queen of the South.

Stevenson has no concerns about their ability to score against Raith Rovers or in the huge matches they have coming up this month given the quality of the strikers that Stubbs has at his disposal.

“In the last couple of games we have played pretty well,” he said. “Okay, we didn’t get the goals we needed, but, first and foremost, we needed to win the games. We did that and I thought we played well in spells.

“Looking back, maybe we could have got a couple more goals. But, over the course of a season, two goals is pretty minimal. Falkirk deserved it. It’s not easy to go and steamroller a team 5-0 and 6-0. We were happy with getting the two wins even though it wasn’t enough.”