Hibs' Florian Kamberi says he's ready to click with Jamie Maclaren again

Hibs striker Florian Kamberi insists it is only a matter of time before his partnership with Jamie Maclaren catches fire again.

The two attackers formed a fruitful pairing in the second half of last season as they scored 17 goals between them after initially arriving on loan in January from Grasshopper and Darmstadt, respectively. Predominantly due to injuries, the pair have been denied the chance to develop their partnership further this season. The last match, at Aberdeen a fortnight ago, was the first time the pair had started together in the league this season and they struggled to get much change out of the Dons’ defence in a 1-0 defeat which made it three games without a goal for Hibs.

Maclaren has scored once this term, while Kamberi has eight goals, albeit three of those came in the 6-1 home win over Faroese minnows Runavik in the Europa League in July. Much has been made of the need to get the two main strikers working in tandem again but Kamberi insists it is only natural that neither of them have been able to operate at their best given the disrupted start to the season.

“It’s been difficult so far because when Jamie was fit, I was injured and when I was fit, he was injured,” Kamberi told the Evening News.

Florian Kamberi, left, and Jamie Maclaren scored 17 goals between them during the second part of last season

“Our first game together this season was against Molde in August but that was not on natural grass, so Aberdeen was our first proper game together.

“There is still a long way to go in the season. Things don’t always work in the first game but in training we are doing well together so we just have to keep working hard together.”

With Hibs having taken just one point from their last four games, Kamberi is hopeful that he and Maclaren can lead the way as Neil Lennon’s side look to reignite their campaign by defeating bottom-of-the-table Dundee at Easter Road tomorrow.

“I’m absolutely confident me and Jamie will start clicking again soon,” he said.

“I hope it will start against Dundee which is an important game for us. I think the goal for both me and Jamie is to start scoring goals again together. We both came back here in the summer to score goals like we did last season, and to be even better. Our job is to score goals to help the team win games. I hope this will start as soon as possible.”