Scotland striker on Hibs targets - Bowie makes 'strong enough' claim as he eyes regular 90-minute shifts
Former Fulham forward will lead line against Partizan in Europa Conference League
The secret to Kieron Bowie’s happiness is endearingly simple. Let him play. And provide him with a couple of scoring chances.
After a stop-start opening chapter to his Easter Road career, the Hibs striker already seems set for a pretty pleasing campaign. The two goals he bagged in Sunday’s Scottish Premiership opener, a comfortable enough 2-1 win over Dundee at Dens Park, are evidence of a player thriving after a full pre-season.
The fact that Sunday was his first 90 minutes since April 2024, when he went the distance for Northampton Town – where he was on loan from Fulham - in a 2-1 home loss to Exeter, is a reflection only on the injury misfortune suffered by the Scotland centre forward. Arriving in Edinburgh last summer nursing a minor hamstring issue, he hadn’t even started for Hibs when he suffered a more serious injury after starting back-to-back games for Scotland Under-21s.
After successful surgery, he spent four months in rehab. And was only eased back into play towards the end of the campaign, making his first Hibs start in February’s thrilling 2-1 home win over Celtic.
Having started both legs of the Europa League tie against Midtjylland, lasting 79 minutes as last Thursday night’s deciding game ended in heart-breaking extra-time defeat for the home side at Easter Road, Bowie never even considered asking to be rested for the domestic opener on Tayside. Not when he’s still making up for lost playing time.
“Definitely, if the manager wants to play me, obviously I'm going to play,” said the frontman, who won his first Scotland cap in the summer. “I'm not going to say: ‘No, I don't want to play.’
“I played 90 against Dundee, which is my first 90 for the club, so I'm glad to be able to do that. Obviously, off the back of a strong pre-season, I've been able to do that and we're a strong side. The last time I played 90 minute was at Northampton, so that was two seasons ago.
“I scored six goals last season in a limited number of games, so I'm just trying to score as many as I can this season. Towards the end of the season I started a few more games, but it was nowhere near to what I wanted.
“But I feel like now I'm fit enough and I'm strong enough that I can go out there week in, week out and play 90 minutes. That's definitely a big thing, it showed today.
Only goals can satisfy penalty box predator
“Targets? No, honestly, nah. I've not even set my target for how many goals I'm going to score this season. I'm just sort of taking it in my stride and trying to score every week.
“If I don't score, I'm not going to be happy. That's what I'm like, even coming off the bench If I don't score, I'm coming out of the game really annoyed, even if we’ve won 4-0!”
With ambitions to force himself into a more permanent position in Steve Clarke’s senior national team squad, the former Raith Rovers wunderkind sees this week’s European challenge as an opportunity. He will be the main focal point of the Hibs attack as David Gray takes his team to Belgrade to face Partizan in the first leg of their Europa Conference League third qualifying round tie on Thursday night.
“Yeah, I mean, obviously, it's really important for the club,” said Bowie. “We've done so well last year, and we want to hopefully reap the rewards of that. The club haven't been in a European group stage, I don't think, so we want to do that - and hopefully we can get our way in there somehow.
“I mean, obviously, you see we've done so well over the two legs against Midtjylland, even though we went out. What was it, 200 odd minutes over two legs? And we limited them to very little.
“The three goals you can see, it's top quality goals and that's what you get when you're playing against top European teams who are well organised. They just allow one moment, and they've scored a goal and you're like, oh my God.
“It's tough to take, honestly, during the week. They score a goal like that, that late. But what can you actually do? It's not like we've defended badly.”
Having been forced to fight for every breath drawn and inch gained against an athletic, talented and effective Midtjylland side, Hibs could definitely afford to exhale against Dundee. Who didn’t exactly provide the toughest test.
Bowie still thinks his team deserve credit for breaking down Steven Pressley’s team, though, insisting: “Dundee was a tight game, and they were really compact at the back, so the chances came from nothing really. I'd happily score any way, but we've got a lot of quality players, Martin Boyle, Jamie McGrath, Jordan Obita, Cadds (Chris Cadden) … So we've got a lot of players that can supply good crosses and put the ball into dangerous areas for me to score and a few others.
“The first goal, obviously their boy took a bad touch – and I’ve just turned and scored. Even the second one, it just sort of fell to me and I've just slowed it down.
“Obviously the goalie was off his line, so it was two easy finishes. I'll take anything I can get to get a goal as long as it's on the score sheet.
“Yeah, I think the manager was keeping me on hoping I’d get a third. I wasn't going to be disappointed if I came off, obviously. I think to try and get my hat-trick, but I'm happy enough with two, to be honest.”