Hibs' Martin Boyle explains how he has the hunger for football back again

Martin Boyle is excited by what lies ahead

Hibs winger Martin Boyle has admitted he’s fallen back in love with football after a nightmare year in which he underwent surgery twice on a knee injury.

Boyle was ruled out for the second half of last season after damaging his knee while on international duty with Australia and then suffered a recurrence of the problem only four games into his comeback.

Now the 26-year-old is flying once again, named as Ladbrokes Premiership Player of the Month after a stunning December in which he followed two goals against Aberdeen with another double as Hibs downed rivals Hearts at Tynecastle.

He’s the second Hibs player in successive months to pick up the award after team-mate Christian Doidge’s six goals in November was similarly recognised.

Boyle said: “I have fallen back in love with football after my long lay-off. I’m scoring goals and I knew I had to add that to my game.

“You always get people asking if the injury is in the back of your mind but you can’t be going into games thinking that way, making half-hearted tackles worrying about getting hurt again.

“I was just coming back from injury when I was trying to impress Paul Heckingbottom and now I’m doing it all over again since the new manager has come in - we all are.

“You have to up your standards and I feel I have done that in the past month.

“We’ve been getting a more settled team lately and you have to keep that jersey when you get it.

“I have loved every minute of my time with Hibs. I’ve had a lot of game time recently after feeling as if I was a bit-part player. I feel I have added more consistency to my game with goals and assists.”