Hibs pre-season plans 'disrupted by Covid-19 issues'

Hibs head coach Jack Ross has revealed that the Easter Road side’s pre-season plans have been disrupted by Coronavirus issues.

Hibs head coach Jack Ross has seen his pre-season plans disrupted

Jack Brydon, 17, and 16-year-olds Oscar MacIntyre and Connor Young were all involved in Saturday’s 4-1 friendly victory over Dunfermline Athletic at the Hibernian Training Centre, with Young getting on the scoresheet and the defensive duo impressing.

Speaking after the bounce game, Ross said: “The circumstances sometimes dictate that young players are given an opportunity.

"We’ve spoken regularly about how Josh [Doig] benefited from that hugely last pre-season, and this pre-season we’ve had a little bit of disruption.

"We’ve had players returning late from international duty, and we’ve had a little bit of Covid-19 disruption that has left us some players short as well so Connor Young, Oscar MacIntyre, and Jack Brydon have been training with us all week and the reward for them was to be involved against Dunfermline.

“All were terrific. Connor’s goal will obviously grab more headlines because it’s a tangible reward but the other two players’ performances were excellent as well.”

Martin Boyle, Alex Gogic, and Kevin Nisbet were all on international duty in June and although Gogic got a run-out against the Pars, Boyle and Nisbet’s first taste of pre-season action will come in this week’s closed-doors friendlies against Accrington Stanley and Stoke City as Hibs spend time at a training camp in the north of England as they step up preparations.

Ross added: “We’ve got a fairly congested pre-season. Because we were involved in the Scottish Cup final our season was extended and then we have to prepare for the European game which comes around quickly but the shorter break we had meant that players haven’t deconditioned too much.

"The opportunity when you go away is to have that quality time on the training pitch but equally we can monitor everything the players do: recovery, nutrition, and there’s an opportunity for the players to spend time with each other. They enjoy it; they enjoy each other’s company so it’s a busy, hard-working week but one we feel will be beneficial as we continue our preparations.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our sports coverage with a digital sports subscription.