Hibernian head coach Alan Stubbs admits the toll of competing in three competitions may explain why his side have dropped crucial league points.

The Championship club missed the opportunity to close the gap on table toppers Rangers with a goalless draw at Livingston.

Stubbs' team trail the Ibrox side by eight points with a game in hand and ahead of their Scottish Cup replay with Hearts, the Easter Road coach says his team deserve to be cut some slack.

In addition to reaching next month's League Cup final with Ross County and challenging for automatic promotion to the Premiership, Stubbs spoke about his team battling to achieve their goals for the campaign.

He said: "I think there’s an element of that [competing on three fronts] but you have to give the players a lot of credit for how good they have been.

"We’re talking about one slight dip where we have just not been at the level, we’ve been at in the space of 26 games.

"We have to cut them a little bit of slack here and there."

Meanwhile midfielder Kevin Thomson is hoping a victory in tomorrow's cup derby replay will banish the disappointing stalemate at Almondvale.