Exclusive:Hibs prepare for Hearts clash with vital squad tune-up against SPFL rivals as Gray braces for 'massive' run-in
Nicky Cadden fitness addressed with derby looming large after blank weekend for Edinburgh clubs
Hibs boss David Gray believes his team came through a valuable squad strengthening exercise at East Mains on Friday afternoon as a bounce game against Scottish Premiership rivals Kilmarnock provided a tune-up for “five massive games” to finish off the campaign. And Gray has revealed the latest on assist king Nicky Cadden’s readiness for next week’s titanic final Edinburgh derby of the season.
Cadden was one of several first-teamers given valuable minutes in the behind-closed-doors match at HTC, with the wingback eager to prove his match sharpness after recovering from a minor injury that has kept him out of action since last month’s 0-0 draw with Motherwell. Super sub Ante Suto also got good game-time in a contest that saw Hibs emerge without any fresh injuries – a major bonus heading into the SPFL post-split run-in.
“It was good, a really good exercise,” Gray told The Evening News tonight, the gaffer explaining the thinking behind squeezing in a game ahead of this free weekend for top-flight clubs as he said: “I actually spoke to Neil McCann after it about how good it was and how beneficial it is because we're trying to re-enact training at this time of the season.
“The boys are fit enough. With this many games left, still weeks left in the season, if the boys aren't fit now they're never going to be.
“But one thing you can't re-enact in training is that sort of match stimulus and the chaos you get from a game. Distances, decision making that needs to happen, especially in a competitive one.
“You can do 11 v 11 in training but it doesn't have the same effect. So really good exercise. Players who needed minutes all got them exactly as we planned, which is huge.
“And the biggest positive from it is there's no-one injured, which is what you always want to guard against to make sure you don't pick anything up. Because that's the one thing you do add is a little bit of a risk of, you know when you add that competitive edge of two teams.
“Sometimes you get a bit more contact and things like that but, no, everybody came through it so a real positive exercise for everybody really.
“We got 90 minutes into Joe Newell, Josh Campbell, Kai Andrews. They've all played minutes over the periods but a sustainable 90 minutes was good.
“Nicky Cadden got minutes in that as well, I think 60 minutes for Nicky. Chris Cadden got 90.
“Kanayo Megwa got 90 minutes. Josh Campbell, not quite 90 but just short of 90. Got a couple of younger ones on in the end for the last sort of 10 minutes.
Super sub Suto yet to play full 90 minutes for Hibs
“Ante Suto has never played 90 minutes since he came into the club. It wasn’t quite 90 minutes for Ante today, but a big chunk of minutes into him. It just keeps that repetition going, it keeps the flow between now and the end of the season.
“Certainly for ones that haven't played as much, it really puts them in a much better place. When they get the opportunity or when called upon, they're more ready for it because of what's left of the season. It's five massive games between now and the end of the campaign, obviously.”
Hibs face Hearts and then Celtic at Easter Road over the opening two weekends of post-split action. They then travel to Falkirk for the third time this season, the result of an inevitable SPFL fixture imbalance, before rounding off the campaign with a trip to Ibrox and a potentially huge home clash with Motherwell on the final weekend.
Assist king back for closing stretch
Gray’s men are currently still three points behind Motherwell in the battle for fourth place, with its guarantee of European football. Hibs missed out on a chance to draw level with the Steelmen last weekend, when the 10-man visitors lost 2-0 to Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
Cadden, still top of the Hibs charts when it comes to assists and chances created, was an unused sub as his team slipped to defeat against the Dons.
But Gray stressed that he hadn’t been holding the wingback in reserve out of any fitness concerns, insisting: “Nicky is ready. Last week was more circumstantial, to be honest.
“I think had the game stayed 1-0 for the last 20 minutes of the game, if they hadn't scored when they scored, then it would have been different. My thought process was to play Nicky at that point. For the last 20 minutes to have a real go, you know, just for his set-piece delivery, for the threat he carries.
“The players had sort of earned the right enough to go and have a real go for the last 10-15 minutes of the game. Unfortunately, we lost that goal just at that point where we were thinking about doing that and we were going to do that at that point.
“And then at that point, when it goes 2-0, you then start to think about the risk of mitigating that. So we went in a slightly different way and put an extra forward on rather than changing our wing-backs.”