Hibs' Derby Day rookies don't worry Mixu

HIBS boss Mixu Paatelainen today insisted he has no worries over possibly fielding half a team of derby day rookies when Hearts travel to Easter Road on Sunday.

David van Zanten, Sol Bamba, Colin Nish, Steven Thicot and Joe Keenan could all be thrown into the white-hot cauldron of their first Capital derby while John Rankin has only 22 minutes experience of such an occasion.

But Paatelainen, scorer of a hat-trick as Hibs hammered their biggest rivals almost exactly eight years ago, believes each and every one of them will thrive on the atmosphere created by a 17,000 sell-out crowd with the rest of the country watching on television.

He said: "I can see the point about them not having been there before but they are good players, guys who are hungry to be successful at Hibs.

"I'll have no hesitation whatsoever in playing any or all of them, I won't be basing my team selection on whether or not they have played in an Edinburgh derby before.

"There's always a first time for every player but each of these boys has plenty of experience, they've played in enough big games not to be phased by the fact it's a derby.

"It's an important match, there's no doubt about that and they are usually very tight affairs."

Paatelainen will, of course, forever be associated with October 22, 2000, when Hibs came from behind to win 6-2, their biggest derby win in 30 years, but today the Easter Road manager insisted Sunday was all about today's team and not what had happened in the past.

He said: "There's no point in bringing me into it at all. It's what we do on Sunday that counts."

Paatelainen does have one major doubt ahead of the big match with centre-half Chris Hogg having suffered a recurrence of the headaches which caused him to sit out his team-mates' win over Aberdeen a fortnight ago.

Although a scan has shown no major problem, the 23-year-old is thought to still be suffering the effects of a crunching challenge which hurled him to the turf during Hibs' Co-operative Insurance Cup tie against Morton at the end of August. After being advised to take a complete ten-day break, Hogg returned to training on Monday but the headaches began again and he sat out yesterday's work-out.

Paatelainen said: "We will follow the doctor's orders and it is felt he needs to relax for another couple of days. I don't want to make anyone go out there knowing he will suffer. The player knows whether he is fit to play or not.

"Chris is a player with a great attitude and when he tells me he is toiling I have to listen. Obviously there is a question mark against him at the moment but we'll wait and see."

• HIBS today advised their fans that only a few hundred tickets remain for Sunday's match but they are expected to sell quickly.