Hibs determined to cash in on corner kicks

Paul Hanlon scored following a corner for Hibs against Dumbarton

Neil Lennon’s side have forced an incredible 127 corners in their 16 Championship matches so far but other than Hanlon, David Gray is the only other player to have scored, prodding home John McGinn’s cross in the recent 3-0 home win over Queen of the South.

Hanlon claimed his third goal of the season as he opened the scoring from Jason Cummings’ corner against Dumbarton on the stroke of half-time leaving Brian Graham to wrap up the victory late in the second half. Cummings was deputising for McGinn in taking corners as the midfielder recovers from an ankle injury.

Hibs forced 11 corners against Dumbarton which was the fourth time they’ve hit double figures, with boss Lennon having previously bemoaned his side’s inablity to capitalise, most pointedly following last month’s 1-1 draw in Edinburgh with Falkirk, a game in which they had 18 corners to the Bairns’ one which was turned home by John Baird.

It was a similar story when title rivals Dundee United visited the Capital, Hibs having nine corners and converting none of them while William Edjenguele’s header from one of only three the Tannadice outfit enjoyed won the Tayside club a vital point. So, too, at Palmerston Park when Lennon’s players forced 14 corners, three times as many as Queen of the South and yet had to settle for a no-scoring draw.

In fact, only once have the opposition had more corners in a game against Hibs, the opening day of the season at Falkirk where Peter Houston’s side had seven to Hibs’ five in a match Lennon’s team won 2-1 thanks to a Jason Cummings double.

Hanlon told his fellow centre backs Darren McGregor and Liam Fontaine before Saturday’s match a goal from a corner was overdue. He added: “We do need to chip in. We’ve got big boys going up for corners and if we can get a head on them it helps the team. We all have our job to do and we do get more than enough corners to score a few more.”