John Hughes reckons Kilmarnock have no chance of denying Hibernian victory - if his side replicate their first-half performance against Dundee United for 90 minutes.

Hibs produced arguably their best 45 minutes of the season last time out when they led 1-0 at half-time of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League game against United.

But they were unable to maintain that performance after the break and the visitors came away from Easter Road with a point.

Manager Hughes reckons the equation is simple for his third-placed side, saying: "If we play the way did in the first half against Dundee United and we can bring it all together for 90 minutes then the three points will certainly stay at Hibs, because we're in that kind of form where we'll be a hard team to stop.

"Saying that, there's always a wee bit in the back of your mind about being inconsistent and that's happened to us once or twice.

"Hopefully, that'll not be the case on Saturday and we can go and play with a good, attacking, expansive style of football."

Hughes knows expectations at Easter Road have risen since he took charge of his boyhood idols this summer and supporters will demand maximum points.

They are also seeking an improvement on disappointing mid-table finishes in the past four seasons, and Hughes is of the same mind.

"We just want to keep winning football games," he said.

"It's nice to get points on the board, that is for sure.

"If you keep winning, the confidence grows.

"Without shouting from the rooftop or setting high expectations, I'd like to think in that dressing room the boys are quietly confident that we can go a few better than we did last year."

Summer signing Anthony Stokes believes third place should be Hibs' minimum target this season.

The striker, 21, sees no reason why the Edinburgh club cannot also take points off Celtic and Rangers.

"We're trying to compete with the Old Firm," he said.

"There's no point going in there up against the likes of Celtic and Rangers thinking you're going to lose the game.

"If you look at the squad we have and the players we have in the starting XI, I think we're good enough to beat anyone on our day, I genuinely do.

"So I think we should be pushing definitely for third this year.

"When we come up against the likes of Celtic and Rangers, we have to have the mentality that we can beat them."

He added: "Maybe the last few years at Hibs, the squad hasn't been as strong as it is now.

"I've seen them when they've had some great players down the years and they've never really achieved what they should have.

"But hopefully it'll change now over the next few years.

"Apart from Celtic and Rangers, we should be looking to win every game.

"We don't want to turn into one of these teams who has one or two good results and then some bad results on the back of that.

"We want to try to get a run going now and try to kick on at the weekend."