Former Barca kid seizing second chance at Hibs - and making up for lost time after delayed Easter Road bow

It wasn’t the highlight of an afternoon with plenty of sparkling moments and dramatic interventions. Still, Alasana Manneh’s home debut for Hibs went a lot better than his first start for the club … which is something.

For a player short of basic playing time since his January move from Odense, being thrown into the fray with just over a quarter of an hour remaining on Saturday felt like a significant step. And, with the home side 2-0 up on St Johnstone at Easter Road, he was virtually guaranteed the ovation that greeted his introduction.

There is an obvious hope, among fans, that the former Barcelona prospect turns out to be just a wee bit special. Added to the natural sympathy punters feel for a midfielder sent off just moments into his first outing in green-and-white, it means there are a lot of people pulling for him to succeed in Scottish football.

Manneh arrived in Scotland desperately in need of both training and game time, with Danish football’s winter shutdown having left him short of match fitness. He was always going to face a challenge to break straight into the starting XI.

That task became doubly hard when, precisely 13 minutes into his debut against St Mirren away in mid-February, he was shown the second of two yellow cards by referee Ross Hardie. Most agreed that at least one of the bookings was on the harsh side of unfair – but, adding insult to injuries, you can’t even appeal a yellow card, meaning Manneh had to serve a suspension.

International call-up for Gambia v Ivory Coast interrupted conditioning

By the time he was available again, Hibs were going hell for leather in a three-game week, rattling through fixtures at a rate that reduced training to recovery and prep, recovery and prep. And then came the international break, when he was called up for Gambia … only to get a fleeting five minutes in their 1-0 loss to Ivory Coast.

Admitting that Manneh had found it tough to bounce back from that shock dismissal in Paisley on his first full shift for the club, Hibs boss David Gray explained: “He had to cope with that, which was difficult for him. Really difficult for him, to be honest.

“But at the same time, he reacted in the way you would want him to react. So it didn't affect his training.

“You could clearly see he'd been disappointed. Especially when he'd just joined a club. Everything that came with that. Definitely not the way he'd probably envisioned his debut to go!

“And I think it also what made it worse was the fact that I don't think anybody would agree that it was a red card. So I think that was the flip side to it.

“It was a very unfortunate one, let's just say. And clearly with the rules, you can't appeal yellow cards.

“That probably made it doubly worse for him. But as I say, he's reacted in the right possible way. And he just needs to keep knuckling down.

“He’s got a lot of talent. We're starting to see all the reasons why we brought him to the club, which is great. And he's definitely getting there, which is positive.”

Manneh looked lively enough in his brief exposure to the Scottish Premiership on Saturday, getting involved on both sides of the ball. Having already shown his aggression, the 26-year-old showed a couple of subtle touches in a limited window of opportunity.

“He's getting closer all the time, because he's training all the time,” said Gray. “Yeah, he missed that chunk of training in January because of the Danish shutdown. And then obviously he had his slight opportunity and then got suspended.

“And then we had so many games in such a short period of time. The volume of training, what he was doing, probably wasn't where it needed to be because he needed to be available for games. It’s a fine balance.

“And then he went on an international duty and missed the opportunity to play here in a bounce game as well. So he's been a wee bit unfortunate for that.

“Brilliant that he gets called up, clearly, and represents his country. I think his game time was limited.

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“I know he was a wee bit disappointed with that, naturally. Because when you go away, you want to play.

“But he missed out on a block of training, potentially, here. Because he would be training over there, preparing for games. Whereas we were doing more conditioning.

“But it was great to get him on against St Johnstone. And that's where he's at now. He needs the minutes to progress.

“He's certainly training hard enough and competing enough in training, which is good. We're seeing all the good signs. And we just need to try and get him minutes when possible. When he gets his opportunity, it's up to him to try and take it.”

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