Marvin Bartley hails Hibs return of Ryan Porteous but warns about thundering into tackles

Defender plays first full 90 minutes since serious knee injury
Ryan Porteous came through 90 minutes against St Johnstone.Ryan Porteous came through 90 minutes against St Johnstone.
Ryan Porteous came through 90 minutes against St Johnstone.

Ryan Porteous played a full match yesterday and the Hibs youngster will now be targeting a full season after the last two were brought to a premature end due to knee injuries.

Just one year after he was sidelined for the second half of the 2018/19 campaign, he was forced to go under the knife again when he was injured in January’s Scottish Cup tie against Dundee United.

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The immediate plan was always to push for a return prior to the summer break so there was frustration when the early curtailment of the league season denied him that opportunity. But having committed himself to a lonely conclusion to his rehabilitation, he managed his first full 90 minutes of action in a bounce game against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park yesterday and, with the match ending 0-0, the young defender could celebrate a clean sheet in the process.

Ex-Hibs player Marvin Bartley has hailed the character of Ryan Porteous.Ex-Hibs player Marvin Bartley has hailed the character of Ryan Porteous.
Ex-Hibs player Marvin Bartley has hailed the character of Ryan Porteous.

It was just reward, according to a former colleague Marvin Bartley, who watched as Porteous broke into the Hibs first team and has remained a friend as well as an influence ever since.

“I saw on Twitter that he had played the full game and I was pleased for him,” said new Livingston captain Bartley, who is now looking forward to facing Porteous and Hibs on the second weekend of the new season. “Although he is young, he is mentally strong. To come through that injury twice you have to be.

“He had Martin Boyle, who was going through the same thing, alongside him the first time. That was when I was still at Hibs and you could see that helped him massively, but the second time will have been tough.

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“Ryan has a wise head on his shoulders, though. He is a brilliant character and mentally strong and he knows where he wants to go in the game. When he was injured the first time, the usual thing for players in that situation is that their confidence gets dented but all the boys rallied round him and he is so receptive to people giving him advice and that is one of the reasons he is so fondly thought of by so many of the older boys. I still speak to him now and when I spoke to him a few days ago he was in high spirits and said he was fitter than me now.

“To be fair, I reminded him he’s 21 and I’m 34 so if he isn’t fitter than me then he is in trouble!

“But he is a brilliant guy and there will be a lot of people happy to see him back fully fit and playing.”

In football there is no guarantee that injury disaster will not strike again but one of the Hibs centre-back’s greatest assets is his willingness to make the telling tackles. Bartley does not see that being diluted by fears of further knocks but he would like Porteous to be a bit smarter.

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“He doesn’t need to thunder into every challenge. I like a good tackle but sometimes he just needs to calm down a bit. I don’t want to curb his commitment or his enthusiasm but you can still make a tackle without bursting the ball.

“The fact is every time you injure your knee, it will never be quite the same so you have to be smart. But I can’t see him having any hesitation when it comes to putting himself about. The injuries won’t play on his mind. That is where his mental strength comes into it.

“This is a guy who has come back from serious injury twice at a young age and this time he has had to put in a lot of the work on his own.”

But lockdown and the enforced to delay to his comeback plans may just work in Porteous’ favour, according to the Livingston midfielder.

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“Hibs are good at not rushing players back from injury but this has given him even longer to get even stronger. He has spent a lot of his time studying the game, analysing his own play as well as other defenders and that should help him but he has also had more time for his knee to really recover. If the season hadn’t ended early I know he would have pushed to get back as soon as possible because he was also looking at Scotland. But maybe now, with that extra time, he will be back even better. That would be brilliant.

“To be fair, he must be doing all right if he is boasting about being fitter than a 34 year old!”

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