Jack Ross insists Hibernian are in it to win it as he urged his team to make up for their semi-final heartbreak by lifting the Scottish Cup.

The Easter Road outfit have been to Hampden twice in recent months only to fall short of Mount Florida’s summit on both occasions.

First they came up short against Edinburgh foes Hearts in last season’s delayed Scottish Cup semi-final, while they then failed to get the better of St Johnstone in the last four of this term’s Betfred Cup.

Now as they kick off this campaign’s Scottish Cup quest with a third-round trip to face Queen of the South at Palmerston on Monday night, the Leith boss has told his men they must aim to go all the way this time.

He said: “Since I’ve been here we’ve gone into the cups with the aim of winning them, and this is no different.

“We’ve reached the semi-finals of the last two cup competitions and we believe this year represents a realistic chance to go on and win this.

“To date we’ve put ourselves in that position but we’ve not taken that next step. That’s something we want to put right.

“I understand what some people might say there will be that extra motivation given we’ve fallen short at the semi-final stage.

“But for us it’s about trying to win a trophy and we think we should always have a chance of doing that as a club and we feel we’ve built a squad that on their day has already shown it is capable of competing against every team in the country.”

Ross was at Tynecastle last weekend to see Allan Johnston’s team stun the Jambos 3-2.

But the Hibs boss – who could hand back-up keeper Matt Macey a start in Dumfries – said: “I wasn’t surprised by the level of performance they showed. Their form in the Championship over the last 10 or 12 games has been very good.

“Queen of the South have a great balance in the team between younger players and good professionals with more experience and they’ve got a great energy and enthusiasm about their play.

“We’ve prepared all week for this game and we definitely don’t underestimate any team.

“It’ll be a tough match for us but it’s an exciting one to go into nonetheless.

“It’ll be a tough test for us and while we could lose on Monday for any number of reasons, poor attitude definitely won’t be one of them.

“We’ve got to show the level we’ve been at all season, and the quality that we have within the squad.”