HIBERNIAN have shown they are no soft touches with the Betfred Cup win over Kilmarnock and the hard-fought point they earned on Saturday against Celtic, according to striker Christian Doidge.

The forward says that he and his teammates were annoyed at being labelled as an easy side to play against in the early part of this season, with Hibs struggling at the foot at the table.

But Doidge believes the dogged determination they showed as they eked out a victory on penalties at Rugby Park and in holding the champions to a draw on Saturday is a sign that the players are willing to fight for manager Paul Heckingbottom.

“I think some teams probably thought we were a soft touch at the start of the season,” Doidge said. “The last two games have proved we’re anything but soft.

“Obviously the Kilmarnock game was really tough, 120 minutes before we managed to get through on penalties. Then we were up against Celtic, maybe the best team in Scotland, and that was always going to be a hard game; there’s a lot of money out there on that pitch. We definitely played really well.

“It did hurt, being called soft and weak. You never want that thrown at you, as a football team.

“We train every day, train really hard, so to have that said about you is not nice. We’ve worked really hard to prove ourselves and it showed in the last two games.

“Coming through that rough spell shows who the characters are. When you start picking up half decent results, that shows something.

“Obviously we’re not getting carried away with two games. We’ve got Aberdeen away next week, which will be another massive game.

“We have to train hard all week and try to keep the momentum going.”

Doidge put on an impressive personal display against Celtic as he started to show at last why Hibernian parted with a relatively sizeable fee in the region of £350,000 to secure his services from Forest Green Rovers.

“It’s obviously not my fault that they paid that money,” he said. “I just keep my head down and work as hard as possible, try not to think about that kind of thing.

“I’m just hoping for a run of games, to be honest. When I first came in, I was probably doing things that I wasn’t good at – not the stuff I was brought to the club to do. Now I’m playing to my strengths, doing what I’m good at.

“It’s about getting on the same wavelength as your team-mates, as well. They know exactly what I like now and we’re working every day on the training pitch on that. I think I’m coming into my own.”