Hibs land 'big boost' as return of major dressing room voice gives team an added jolt

Josh Mulligan reckons Hibs will be majorly boosted by the return of a key player - as he eyes a response to defeat against Celtic.

Two goals inside a minute in the first half sealed a 2-1 Premiership loss at Easter Road for David Gray’s side but there was a big positive within the match. Club captain Joe Newell returned from an 11-month injury lay-off in midfield and instantly got stuck into the engine room work up against the champions.

Mulligan has not featured with Newell since arriving at Hibs from Dundee in the summer. He has already noticed the difference the experienced midfielder makes behind the scenes and can’t wait to see what he does on it.

How big is Joe Newell return for Hibs?

Speaking on Newell, Mulligan said: “It's brilliant to see him back. He's been working really hard in training so yes, it's really good. He's a big part of this team. Even though he's not been playing, he's still a big voice in the changing room. He's the captain, so just to see him back on the pitch is really good. He'll be a big boost for us."

Mulligan holds no blame on goalkeeper Raphael Sallinger, who’s pass into Miguel Chaiwa allowed Celtic to gain possession outside the Hibs box and Daizen Maeda slotted into the empty net. Conceding to Arne Engels’ header straight away is something Mulligan knows can’t be allowed to happen heading into Saturday’s clash with Falkirk.

He said: “Obviously we lost the goal from a mistake. We're still trying to do the right things, but the quality Celtic have got, they took their chances, and we didn't quite take ours. But we've got a big game next week, and we're all looking forward to that. Raphael is a confident guy.

“He's trying to do the right thing. And I think Miguel [Chaiwa] slips a wee bit as well, so that doesn't help. He's trying to do the right thing, and if we keep doing the right things, eventually the results will go our way. You can't give up a goal right after a goal. You can't give up two goals in the time that we did, because that just gives you a mountain to climb, even though I thought we did all right – we got back into the game.

David Gray on Hibs response to Celtic defeat

"But it's very difficult to get anything out of the game if you give up two goals as quickly as we did. It's been hard, but that's football. You're not going to be winning every week. "The last two results haven't been great, but we've got a big game next week. We need to look at that and try to take all three points."

For boss Gray, he reckons Celtic were restricted to almost nothing outside the two goals, and that work on the training pitch will help them get back to winning ways. He added: “When we were 2-0 down it would’ve been easy for our players to just roll over but we didn’t do that. Second half the reaction was good, and we created big chances again. We were the only team in the ascendancy in that second half and the one that looked like going on to score.

“Apart from the two goals Celtic scored, we restricted them to next to nothing, which shows the level of performance from our players. This is the first time we’ve lost back-to-back games in over a year, and I’ve just spoken to the players about that. It’s a reflection of how well we’ve done over the past year, but I also reminded them to stick together. We need to get back on the training pitch and work together to turn it around.”