Top scorers out, assist king crocked and three stars on international duty - but Hibs depth shining through
Wins over Hearts and Aberdeen set Easter Road side up for Killie clash as Gray’s men seek perfect end to three-game week
Kieron Bowie was sitting at home feeling as sick as a Celtic fan calculating the cost of removing that ill-advised Wilfried Nancy tattoo. Martin Boyle hobbled off after little more than half an hour, joining Nicky Cadden among the injured stars in a Hibs squad also missing three regular contributors on AFCON duty.
Yet David Gray’s team, missing the firepower of a strike pairing who have combined for 16 goals this season, plus their top assist provider AND a trio of international stars, did not appear to be struggling for strength in depth as they dismissed Aberdeen with something to spare in midweek. And they head to Kilmarnock for the new year’s first round of Scottish Premiership fixtures feeling confident in their ability to cope with personnel setbacks and shortages.
Substitutes and replacements shining amid shortages
From Josh Campbell climbing off the bench to score a beauty in the derby, to Thibault Klidje making the most of a rare start against Aberdeen and Junior Hoilett offering a timely late reminder of his threat, ‘tis still the season for fringe players to make a point. As Hibs seek to complete a three-game week with a perfect record, the squad mentality created by Gray and his coaching staff is certainly paying dividends.
“Yeah, 100 per cent,” said Warren O’Hora, when asked if it felt like everyone was digging in for the greater good at the moment, the Irish centre-half stressing: “And that's what we're going to need, especially around the Christmas period. Like we said, games come ticking fast.
“You need a full squad. It's not just an 11. It's impossible to do well in this league and just be an 11.
“So to have a squad and to have the subs come off the bench with the attitude that someone like Josh Campbell has, you know, they're trying very hard. We're all trying very hard.
‘Everyone is treated equally’ - O’Hora
“Credit to the staff as well, I have to say, for that. You know, everyone's treated equally. Everybody gets their chance. And like we've seen over the last two games, it's starting to pay off for us, which is great.
“I think sometimes during the season we've been a bit unlucky with results. Performances have been good in the past. Maybe just missing a little bit in both boxes in some of the games previously.
“But you saw it against Hearts, kind of, that we were really, really ruthless. Got our chances, took them straight away.
“Against Aberdeen, maybe the first half was a little bit slow, probably a bit of tiredness or a bit of fatigue crept into us. The second half was much better.
“Playing forward, running forward, passing forward, everything that the staff said to us. And then, yeah, taking our chances.
“You know, Thibault takes his chance. Absolutely delighted for him. Junior comes on, takes his chance.
“And it's brilliant, you know, to have a player like Thibault coming in with Bowie missing out. It's perfect for us. And then Junior comes off the bench and does what he does.
“So it shows the squad depth. Last year we had a lot of that. You don't really want to bang on about last year because it's gone. You can't really do much about it. But, yeah, hopefully this is a bit of a catalyst now to make us kick on.”
Now sitting six points clear in fifth place, Hibs are just two points behind Motherwell and three adrift of Rangers. Reigning champions Celtic, currently second, are only seven points ahead – and leaders Hearts are 10 points clear of their nearest rivals.
Not that anyone in Gray’s camp is looking too far up the table, with his mantra of chasing down the team above very much a non-negotiable, O’Hora saying: “Yeah, that's the next thing. Always looking forward, trying to catch the team in front. And Saturday we can do that again.
“You can’t be looking too far ahead, focusing on the leaders and the seconds and the thirds. That’s somewhere that we want to be, no doubt about it. Somewhere that we felt we should be. We’ve had good performance and now the results are coming.
“I think don't get too ahead of ourselves. You can only go game by game. If you keep looking too far ahead, you start losing sight of what's next and what's coming, because it comes thick and fast.
“That's the way we work, the way we function. That's the system. We don't get too ahead of ourselves.
“We don't get too low, we don't get too high. We stay nice and level. We know we can improve in areas, and that's what we'll keep trying to do.
“It didn't take much to be a lot faster than last season's start, to be honest. But looking back, yeah, obviously we had that massive run of, I think, 17 or 18 games unbeaten. Of course we take confidence from that, and knowing that we can do that.
“But we can't control last season, it's done. We can't do anything. Some new lads in, some boys left.
“But it's important, like I said, that we have to get a run. Consistently going with results and performances, I think they've been OK and good, especially the last two games, and we need another one on Saturday.”