Hibs goalkeeper Ofir Marciano reflects on 'weird' season and explains how he wins back gloves

Ofir Marciano in action for Hibs during the William Hill Scottish Cup 4th round replay against Dundee United at Easter Road on January 28. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

Ofir Marciano has revealed how staying positive helped him win back his starting berth at Hibs in each of the last two seasons.

The Israel international missed the start of the 2018-19 campaign due to injury and had to bide his time before eventually displacing Adam Bogdan after the Liverpool loanee suffered concussion.

He then found himself back on the sidelines last season when he was dropped by Paul Heckingbottom in September last year in favour of Chris Maxwell, who had arrived on loan from Preston North End.

Marciano was subsequently restored by Jack Ross in December, the new boss having replaced Heckingbottom a month earlier, and he held off competition from the returning Bogdan to retain the number one position until the season was suspended in mid-March.

"In your career you will always face challenges," Marciano said. "Sometimes you will get dropped, and sometimes you lose your place because of injuries and other keepers come in and do well and you have to wait.

"You have to respect the manager's decision, but if I can say something about myself it's that I always try to think positive even if the situation is not ideal, or if it's not nice.

"I always try to work hard and be patient. I know our careers are really short, and we have to make the most of it.

"There's no time to cry or to not try to be the best you can be every day. This is something I always say to myself even in the bad times.

"I'm happy that I'm proving myself every time and even if I'm not playing because of injury or other decisions, I'm always coming back and playing well."

Having worked hard to regain his place, the towering 30-year-old was disappointed when the campaign was called to a premature halt due to coronavirus.

"That was a bit of a weird season," he said. "I felt like I started okay then obviously I lost my place.

"Luckily I still had the national team games that I played well in at a high level which kept me sharp.

"The second part of the season I got back into the goal and I was trying hard to improve.

"I was a bit frustrated because I felt I was in good shape and suddenly the season was stopped.

"There were a lot of things that happened in one season but I try to take the positives out of it, the bad things also, and take it into the next season and try to get better."