Hibs star Christian Doidge reveals secret behind his scoring streak

Striker always believed he would make the grade
Christian Doidge fired Hibs into the fifth round of the Scottish CupChristian Doidge fired Hibs into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup
Christian Doidge fired Hibs into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup

Christian Doidge may have endured a difficult start to his Hibs, one which had most Hibs fans questioning the club’s wisdom in shelling out the not inconsiderable sum of £350,000 for the Forest Green Rovers’ striker.

Jack Ross wasn’t privy to that decision, Doidge having arrived in Edinburgh as a signing made by his predecessor Paul Heckingbottom but, insisted the new head coach, in wake of the Welshman’s Scottish Cup hat-trick against Dundee United, that move will be “more than justified” come the end of the season.

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Doidge’s treble on Tuesday night was his second hat-trick of the season, making him the first Hibs player to achieve such a feat since Steve Cowan netted a treble of hat-tricks, against Cowdenbeath (in the League Cup), Clydebank and then St Mirren all of 34 years ago.

It took his tally for the season to 14, the majority of those goals coming in two bursts, seven in five games sparked by a hat-trick against St Johnstone and his current run of five in four.

“I have a habit of doing that in my career,” revealed the 27-year-old. “When I get a goal after not scoring for a while, I seem to go on a run. So hopefully I can get a couple more now.

“I always believed it was going to happen. It’s just sometimes as a striker it doesn’t work out for you. It happens in Scotland, England, Wales, everywhere you go. Sometimes you struggle and I probably have a history of not fitting in straight away when I join a club.

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“But after a couple of games you settle in and I have scored a few now. You’ve always got to just keep believing you’re going to score. When you’ve been in that scenario

before, you understand that you can come out on the other side.”

However, as much as Doidge’s exploits grabbed the headlines, he insisted it was team-mates such as Martin Boyle and Daryl Horgan who were the unsung heroes.

He said: “It’s amazing. How much pace is there! They can do all the hard work and I can stand in the middle of the goal and hopefully put it in the net. That’s where I’ve got most of my joy in my careeer.

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“I know what kind of player I am. I know I’m not going to be as effective as those guys are at what they do. I like being in the six-yard box. That’s where my strengths are.”

Hibs’ victory over United sets up a fifth-round tie away to Lowland League outfit BSC Glasgow, a “David versus Goliath” type tie in which the Easter Road club will be overwhelming favourites to progress to the quarter-finals.

But Doidge knows from personal experience the thrill cup competition can bring, revealing he twice won the Welsh Premier League Cup while playing for Carmarthen Town while an away tie against Everton at Goodison Park as a Dagenham and Redbridge player was the highlight of his FA Cup exploits.

He said: “I’m Welsh so I would never slag off the Welsh Premier League. I was very young and to get silverware is always something special. It’s something I will always remember because a lot of them (his team-mates) are still friends.

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“One of the finals was at Aberystwyth Town and the other at Newtown and they both went to penalties. It was obviously very stressful, I scored my penalties but it was the same guy, I think, Craig Hanford who scored the winninn penalty in both so that’s pretty special in itself.

“It’s going to be a massive game for BSC, really enjoyable and I’m sure they’ll make a lot of money from it. It’s a great opportunity for them so we have to go there fully prepared and expecting a very good side.”

And recalling his own experience at Goodison, he added: “You want to make a name for yourself. You want to go there, perform well and hopefully someone is watching you, especially when you are at a really small club like that.

“Clubs want you to move on and progress so anyone who is on that pitch is probably going to be looking for a spot in the Premiership.”