Something special brewing at Hibs as coffee club chats prompt players to raise ambitions

Have chats over coffee really helped Hibs find the perfect blend amid the grind of a Scottish Premiership campaign? Well, perhaps just feeling free to, ahem, espresso themselves helped perk up a few of the players involved …

OK, all right. No more horrific hot beverage puns, honest. Because wordplay potential aside, it seems as if a handful of Hibs first-teamers do enjoy some quiet bonding sessions away from the constant buzz of training and games.

If nothing else, the changing tone of conversations among players over the course of the season acts as a reminder of how far they’ve come in recent months. From mulling over their plight at the foot of the table, to setting new targets much higher up the ladder, their perspective has been transformed completely.

Nicky Cadden, the catalyst for much of his team’s recent improvement, revealed: “Obviously we have chats; some of us like to go for a coffee. We just have a chat of what we expect from this year, what we think we could possibly get to.

“Obviously, I'm not divulging it here, because we like to keep it in-house. I don't think it's unrealistic, where we think we could go.

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“And, yes, it's weird. I think we went for a coffee in between Christmas and New Year at some point. We were talking about how well we're doing.

“But a month ago we were talking about how we need to just turn it around, we need to keep going, just basically performing. It's weird how basically it was like four weeks, and we're talking about where we could go instead of just basically trying to get ourselves out of where we were.

“This is basically just the start of it. As you can see, we're gradually growing and starting to play well. It could be a really exciting season.

"There's a few of us. My brother (Chris), Josh (Campbell), Joe (Newell), Warren O'Hora and Jack Iredale were the ones who went last time, but also there's a few people that tag along. I think it's good to have that wee bit of group bonding outside of the workplace.”

That Hibs look a tight-knight group is pretty obvious. Especially to anyone who saw Cadden leaping into a slightly odd argument between Iredale and Rangers midfielder Mohamed Diomande after full-time in Sunday’s dramatic 3-3 home draw with Rangers.

Explaining his part in the flare-up, Cadden revealed: “Well, Jack went to shake his hand, and he never looked at him, as if: ‘I'm better than you …’ and I don't like that. He just pushed Jack, so I ran in, and that's about it

“It's nothing, like, bad. It's just you need to give your opponent respect.”

Cadden has earned the respect of most in the league with his form since recovering from injury to establish himself in the first team, with stats showing that he’s created 30 chances for his side. Which explains his league tally of four goals and three assists.

Looking like a natural in the left wingback role, where his crossing really comes to the fore, the 28-year-old grins when asked if he prefers scoring or setting them up for others, revealing: “I do like an assist … but at the same time, you can't beat a good goal if you score a worldie. It's quite special.

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“With the crossing, we're working on getting people in the box, as many people in the box as we can. I feel like I've got good delivery and my brother's got good delivery on the other side as well. If we can flood the box and cause the opposition problems, then we will get goals.

“Ever since I can remember really, I like to just get the ball at my feet and whip it in the box. I feel like I've got a decent left foot, so I need to use that to the best of my ability.

“Obviously we work every day, I work on my free kicks and obviously corner deliveries as well. The training here is really good, where we get to do a lot of crossing and finishing, where I can work on different crosses, stand up, whips in the box. I feel like it's worked so far anyway.

“Me and Dwight Gayle normally have a chat. He knows the balls I like to put in. He tells me I'm just going to make that run or whatever.

“Obviously you think about it when you see the strikers. If it’s Myko Kuharevich or Kieron Bowie, you're going to put more height on it maybe. You do try to work around who's playing, as well as what's best for the strikers.”