Kevin Dabrowski targets Hibees’ No.1 shirt as he bids to keep impressing at Cowdenbeath

Kevin Dabrowski is aiming to impress Hibs while at Cowdenbeath

The 21-year-old Pole joined the League Two side earlier this month in a season-long loan designed to accelerate his development.

In only his second game for Gary Bollan’s team, Dabrowski found himself up against his parent club’s city rivals, and he used the Betfred Cup showdown at Central Park to enhance his reputation by making a string of eye-catching saves to prevent dominant Hearts from winning by more than 2-0.

The goalkeeper was praised by both managers afterwards and even drew applause from the Hearts support when he was announced as the hosts’ man of the match. “I enjoyed the night even though I was busy,” said Dabrowski. “This is why I play football, for games like that. I heard the Hearts fans giving me applause when I was named man of the match which was really nice. I would never expect that. It made me so happy to hear that. This game has given me more motivation to become an even better player. I am feeling so confident right now. One game like that can change you - playing in a game like that can only mature me as a goalkeeper.”

Dabrowski joined Hibs two years ago from Lech Poznan but is still awaiting his first-team debut. He has been on the bench several times but has so far been unable to get game time ahead of the likes of Ofir Marciano, Adam Bogdan and Ross Laidlaw. Dabrowski was loaned to Cowdenbeath just days after Chris Maxwell joined from Preston North End, and the Pole is optimistic that dropping down to League Two will help him realise his goal of becoming Hibs’ main goalkeeper.

“The gaffer at Hibs wants me to get more experience,” he explained. “If I only played for the Under-20s it won’t give me the experience I need to play for Hibs in the future. I thought this was the perfect move for me to show that I can be ready to be the Hibs No.1 in the future. I am confident I can play for Hibs but I know I have to keep my head down and work hard every day. If I do that, I’m sure the day will come when I play for Hibs.”