What Hibs boss saw in St Mirren draw fuels Hampden Hearts semi belief as Chaiwa injury update provided
Miguel Chaiwa injury update as Premier Sports Cup semi-final looms large
Bullish Marink Reedijk insists Hibs have both the quality and fight to beat Hearts at Hampden – after watching them scrap and battle for a first point under his management. And the Dutch coach has provided an update on Miguel Chaiwa’s fitness ahead of Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup semi-final.
Reedijk believes Hibs deserved to take more than just a point from the 1-1 draw in Paisley, with Marko Ivezic’s first goal for the club cancelled out by Jason Kerr’s second own goal in as many games. After three successive defeats to kick off his time as Easter Road gaffer, though, the 35-year-old says he’s seen enough to feel excited about a first taste of the Edinburgh derby,
First goal for summer signing Ivezic
“I always say the number of individuals working with each other, if you have that or you have a team, then this is more than the value of every individual,” he said, adding: “But I disagree also with the statement that the quality is not there.
“We have quality in the house. I think being a team with the quality we have, I don't see a reason why we cannot beat Hearts.”
Eager Reedijk is already looking forward to his first exposure to the capital’s footballing rivalry, saying: “It is, first and foremost, why everybody, including you, including all the fans and the players, started to watch football, started to love football. These are special matches based on a lot of things.
“I'm looking forward to experiencing this. I've seen it in Belgium and obviously in Holland, but here the people are intense and this is what I really like. Therefore, I'm very much looking forward.”
‘We deserved to win’ - Reedijk
Reflecting on tonight’s game, he said: “Yes, we deserved to win, I think, based on the match. I saw a good side who wanted to fight for each other, who wanted to be intense, recover the ball, up high a few times. I think a point is a point and we take that, but we deserved three.
“I couldn't see both goals in all fairness. I couldn't see properly, so I have to re-see them.
“I feel better but that is not based on the result today. That is more based on how we performed again. And I saw again a team who wanted to fight, did bits better which we could improve against Celtic. So that's also a very positive thing.
“And also how you see if we scored the goal, the celebrations with the fans, the togetherness, the intensity there. That tells me also something.”
Neither team managed a serious shot on target until Ivezic’s scrambled effort after 77 minutes, the central defender getting the final touch after a corner from Nicky Cadden – making his first start of the season – ricocheted around the St Mirren box. Reedijk said the lack of goalmouth action was almost entirely down to the defensive tactics of the hosts.
“I think that has to do with the way St Mirren wanted to play,” he said, adding: “They played 5-4-1. I think they were in a low block a lot of times. It's always difficult to play against and you have to find your moments in order to get the moments.
I think we had an opportunity to get moments and we had some moments in order to score. This is always difficult against a five-man defence and a 5-4-1.”
On the return of Cadden, who was the most creative threat for the visitors on the night, the manager said: “That's good. It gives us a different flavour again. I think he did a very good job.
“Had to go off with cramp and that tells a lot. So he gave is all and that's super important in order to go to Sunday but also the matches after.”
All-action midfielder Chaiwa was signalling to be taken off for a good five minutes before he was replaced by Azeem Abdulai after 67 minutes. He limped off holding his thigh, raising concerns among supporters about his availability to face Hearts.
Reedijk said: “Yeah, it looks okay for now but we have to see tomorrow. It's always difficult to see but he felt something.”
The point moves Hibs up to 11th in the table, a detail that left Reedijk relatively unmoved, as he explained: “For me, it's important that we look to the next match. Like I said before, when we were bottom of the table, the table becomes important after, from the top of my head, 33 matches.”