Hibs boss Shaun Maloney opens up on goalkeeper decision against Rangers after bringing Matt Macey back in

Shaun Maloney has revealed it wasn't an easy decision to bring Matt Macey back into the starting line-up against Rangers, as the Hibs boss spoke about having two goalkeepers fighting for the gloves.

Back-up goalie Kevin Dabrowski made his first-team competitive debut for the Easter Road side in the recent Edinburgh derby against Hearts after Macey had sustained an injury in the 3-2 defeat by Livingston.

The Polish shot-stopper kept his place for the 1-0 loss to St Mirren before Macey got the nod for the midweek trip to Ibrox – something Maloney admitted was a tough choice to make.

“I really pushed for Matt to be involved in the squad against St Mirren, which was tight. I really wanted him to be fit; but he only trained the day before.

Shaun Maloney is happy to have Kevin Dabrowski (left) and Matt Macey fighting for the gloves

“But with Kevin’s performance [against Hearts] and Matt training for just one day, I made the decision on Kevin,” he explained.

"Once Matt was fully fit it wasn’t a small decision – Kevin did particularly well against Hearts and fine against St Mirren; there was nothing negative about his performance.

"It was just that Matt has done very well for Hibs for a long period and so he went back to being starting goalkeeper.

"Kevin is now in a position to improve certain aspects of his game, but he’s definitely fighting for the position which is something I want in all areas, whether it’s outfield or the goalkeeper. It’s really healthy when you have more than one player fighting for a position.”

Maloney wouldn’t be drawn on which ‘keeper would get the nod against Arbroath but he did state that he would be picking his strongest available team.

"Against Cove we went as strong as we could but we did have a lot of injuries which forced me to play Melker [Hallberg] at centre-back at the time but we went strong then, and we’ll go as strong as we can for this game too – it has too much importance.”

"Every time I change something in the team I speak to the players involved. I just think it’s best to tell every player and give them exact reasons why. I think it shows respect to the player.”

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