Inside Josh Campbell’s Hibs revival: Back from the brink, Lee Johnson coaching, comfortable as 8 or 10

There was a tweet sent at 2.49pm on Saturday, in which a Hibs fan pointed out that the last time the team had played on his birthday, Christian Doidge had scored a hat-trick.

The same supporter was hoping for another win and another treble and while he didn’t mind who scored it, his money was on Josh Campbell. There probably won’t have been too many people who would have agreed, but who was laughing at 4.56pm?

Campbell is now on eight goals and five assists for the season – a decent return from a 22-year-old midfielder who, this time two years ago, was playing in the fourth tier of Scottish football – and you wouldn’t put it past him to add to both tallies before the curtain falls on the current campaign. There has alread

Lee Johnson said on Saturday evening that he was proud of Campbell for his performance against the Dons. He now has five goals in two home games against the Pittodrie club, having netted a brace the last time the teams met in Leith, and is level on goals with Kevin Nisbet, who came off the bench to score Hibs’ fourth following a tumultuous week in which he had a change of heart over a proposed move to Millwall.

Josh Campbell wheels away after opening the scoring for Hibs

That Nisbet scored was little surprise. But relinquishing spot-kick duties to give Campbell a shot at his maiden treble? That was unexpected.

“Last time I scored two against Aberdeen, I was taken off straight after. There were a few of us at half-time on Saturday saying I was on a hat-trick, and I was saying, ‘Well, don’t take me off this time’,” Campbell said after his man-of-the-match display.

“I’m buzzing that Nizzy gave me the penalty. I’d like to thank him for that, it was a great thing to do. It’s massive for us that Kevin is staying. He’s a big player for us and he showed it when he came on and scored straight away.”

When people talk about players who ‘get Hibs’, the names of Paul Hanlon, Lewis Stevenson, Darren McGregor, and David Gray are put forward. They have either grown up as fans, or they have subscribed to the green and white way of life. But Campbell is as Hibs as any of them; a ‘die-hard’ who was in the stands at Hampden on 21 May 2016, and finds it hard to describe the emotions behind scoring a treble for his boyhood heroes.

Josh Campbell celebrates his second goal against Aberdeen

“I’m still trying to take it in. It’s all a bit wild in my head,” he admits. “My first ever hat-trick, a couple of assists. The last time I scored a hat-trick was when I was about ten and playing for the school team. It was good fun out there, and I’m delighted for everyone, especially the young lads who came on.”

It is jarring to hear Campbell speak about ‘the young lads’ when referring to Oscar MacIntyre and Josh O’Connor, given his relatively tender years himself. He even referred to himself as a youngster earlier this season. But he has been at the club for 13 years and must be starting to feel like an old-timer.

"I’ve seen people come and go, mates who have been in my team and unfortunately not made it. But I’ve always believed in myself, that I can make it at Hibs, and I’m doing that now,” he said in October.

There was a time when Campbell might have been on the cusp of leaving Hibs. A couple of loans with Airdrie and Arbroath didn’t go to plan and he wasn’t on the fringes of the Easter Road first-team squad. When the Covid-19 pandemic shuttered Scottish football, club insiders recall Campbell’s laser focus on improving his fitness. That, coupled with taking advice from three different managers about how to improve his game, has propelled him to a position where, halfway through the season, he could well be in the running for player of the season.

Campbell pictured during an open training session at Easter Road

“It has been a bit stop-start, we have had a few bad results, but we have stayed together, we have got close to each other in the changing room, and it worked out well on Saturday. There was pressure on the game but we said that if we got the first goal, we were confident we could go on to win the game. When we came in at half-time we said if we got the next goal we could put it to bed, and we did that,” he explained after Saturday’s win.

Three goals and two assists in one game is a phenomenal return, especially from a midfielder and he will deservedly take a while to process a five-goal contribution in one game. Goalscoring midfielders haven’t been too common at Hibs in recent seasons – Scott Allan, Stevie Mallan, and John McGinn are the ones that spring to mind in the past few years – but Campbell should, and probably will, reach double figures for the season.

Jack Ross and Shaun Maloney are due credit for working with him and turning him into a viable first-team option but Johnson is in the process of turning him into an all-action midfielder, no matter where he plays.

"As an ex-midfielder myself I took him under my wing and tried to improve him,” Johnson said. “We talked on Friday about him getting three or four more goals before the end of the season to set him up as that real box-to-box eight or industrious ten.”

Campbell might have been the utility man not so long ago, as evidenced by stints in numerous positions for Hibs. But he is rapidly becoming one of the first names on the teamsheet for his energy, determination, and now goal threat. If Campbell can apply that to every game – and there will be tougher opponents than Aberdeen – then Johnson’s quip about batting away bids for the player might take on an element of truth.