HIBS boss Alan Stubbs said beating Morton at Cappielow on Tuesday night was more important than reaching the League Cup final or potentially upsetting Hearts in Sunday’s Scottish Cup derby.

The Edinburgh outfit’s meeting with the Ton was sandwiched between a semi-final against St Johnstone, which they won 2-1, and the upcoming clash with their capital city rivals at Tynecastle.

Stubbs, though, insisted avoiding a banana skin in Greenock was the most significant result due to the fact it was a league fixture and prevented Rangers from stretching their lead at the top of the table.

He said: “For the amount of ball we had, we didn’t utilise it enough. I thought we got into some really good areas and if anything probably over-elaborated at times.

“It should have been more comfortable, it wasn’t — but it’s another clean sheet and another win for us. But I knew this was going to be a difficult game. You saw it against the ‘other team’ [Rangers], shall we say, a couple of weeks ago that it’s not an easy place to come.

“Morton really work hard as a team: they closed us down, pressed us, put balls in the box, but we’ve dealt with it and we’ve come away with three points.

“This was the biggest banana skin. As far as some people were concerned, we only had two games this week – Saturday and next Sunday - not three.

“This was really low down on it - but I knew this was probably the most important for the right reasons.

“It was a league game and we wanted to keep the momentum going and not let the gap get any bigger, and we’ve achieved that.”

New loan signing Anthony Stokes sunk Jim Duffy’s men with the only goal of the match, and Stubbs expects to see more from the Irishman as he regains match sharpness.

He added: “His contribution was there for all to see and it will do him the world of good, the 76 minutes he got. It will do a huge amount for his fitness. He’ll get better and better, there’s no denying that.”