‘Nowhere near enough’ – Ross Laidlaw’s frustration at lack of Hibs appearances

Ross Laidlaw was restricted to 27 matches over the course of three years at Easter Road

But, nevertheless, he can point to a fairytale debut, keeping a clean sheet away to Danish outfit Brondby in the Europa League and repeating the feat as Hibs drew 0-0 with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Molde – a night he’ll always remember.

Looking forward to a fresh start with Ross County as they return to the Premiership, the former Raith Rovers goalkeeper insisted that while he enjoyed his time at the Capital club, it was also tinged with a few regrets.

“I didn’t play as many games as I would have liked, 27 was nowhere near enough,” he admitted. “But when you have international goalkeepers like Ofir and Adam at the club then it is hard to get the chances you want.

“Making my debut away to Brondy was special although it was disappointing not to win the penalty shoot-out and to keep another clean sheet against Molde was a great personal achievement.”

Laidlaw also found himself battling against injury, a major shoulder operation sidelining him for nine months while last season a thigh problem put him out of action again for a lengthy spell.

But, he admitted, it was that freak training ground accident which resulted in surgery which proved costly, coming just a couple of weeks after a disappointing performance as Hibs were beaten by Celtic in the semi-final of the Betfred Cup at Hampden.

He conceded: “I didn’t have a great game, I admit that. But that’s the life of a goalkeeper, it’s frustrating but there was nothing I could do to get myself back in because of the injury. And then last season Adam came in and found myself third choice when I didn’t even want to be second choice.”