Revealed: Hard graft behind Hibs hero Rocky Bushiri's terrifying goal threat - Gray in 'no accident' claim
DRC defender has banged in HALF of his Hibs goals in five-week burst - and loves a game-changing moment
It hasn’t happened by accident. Like every great leap forward, it’s been based on baby steps, hard yards and tough slogging – sometimes going straight over the top of opponents, plus the odd team-mate, just to gain an inch.
Rocky Bushiri’s emerging reputation as a goal threat has been built, according to the coaches who have worked with him, on endless training-ground sessions spent learning to attack the ball. And hours of patient coaching on how to best hurl his imposing frame into the danger zone.
The end result? Just look at the numbers for evidence of an emerging trend.
Since his arrival in the January of 2022, the Democratic Republic of Congo international has scored just eight times for Hibs. The big man didn’t even break his scoring duck until THAT dramatic late equaliser against Aberdeen at the end of last November.
Big man scored ‘Sliding Doors’ goal against Aberdeen
Having taken the thick end of three years to find the net, he’s since been on what you might call a fast track, with three more goals – one against Rangers, a Scottish Cup winner on a Friday night in Ayr and the opener in a thrashing of Dundee – coming before the end of last season. All very promising.
And this season? His late equaliser against St Mirren yesterday took him to the top of the scoring charts with a fourth of the season.
Bushiri has scored HALF of all his goals for Hibs in the past five weeks or so. As the Buddies, Midtjylland, Killie and Legia Warsaw can attest, he’s taking some stopping at the moment.
Gray in ‘that sounds horrendous’ joke over heading sessions
Hibs boss David Gray insists the 25-year-old central defender is merely reaping the rewards of a concerted effort to hone his scoring skills, explaining: “He's stepped up a lot in terms of the goal front. And I think back to all the work me and Rocky have done for years now, trying to get him to head the ball … not just head the ball, that sounds horrendous!
“What I mean by that is attacking the ball from set pieces and crosses into the box. And he's done a lot of work on it, and he's starting to get the rewards from it now.
“He's becoming a huge threat, and he's got that appetite for it. And it's by hard work on the training ground that he does it.
“It's not a coincidence, it doesn't happen by accident, and we're getting the rewards from that now. Added to that you've got very good delivery within the group as well, so it is a really good recipe that we've got going there. And we've had a lot of success last season from set pieces.
“It's something that's a massive part of the game, you look at the St Mirren game, we lose a goal from a set piece. It's a huge part of the game, and he's an asset in both boxes.”
Scoring isn’t all about numbers, of course. Bushiri is also developing a knack for banging in goals just when his team need it.
So you’ve had the Sliding Doors moment against the Dons. Escaping Somerset Park without slipping up. Changing the mood in that Europa League qualifier against the Danes. Beginning the Conference League comeback in Poland. And then yesterday’s point-saving contribution.
Gray, agreeing that Bushiri was becoming a timely contributor to his side in the opposition box, said: “He is. Although I think it (his goal against St Mirren) might have been going in anyway, so I think if it wasn't going, if he was offside, maybe I wouldn't have been as calm sitting here just now with Rocky!
“But no, he is. He's had another chance in the first half which he's really disappointed with. That's one of the things I spoke about, when we talk about our chances, that's a big chance in the first half that he's disappointed with, that he doesn't score - and he knows that.”