Steve Kean takes Hibs youngsters 'out of their comfort zone' and explains what went wrong

Steve Kean believes his young Hibs players will benefit from being taken “out of their comfort zone” in the B team SPFL Trust Trophy clash with Brechin City.

The Hibs academy chief was disappointed with some aspects of their performance, particularly their lack of penetration in the final third. But he was delighted with the challenge posed by a Brechin team on a good run of form and determined to win.

The Highland League side went through 4-1 on penalties at New Victoria Park in Newtongrange after the tie ended 1-1 after minutes.

Paul Hanlon and Dylan Tait were the two permitted over-aqe players fielded by Hibs, with the rest of the squad under the age of 20. Many of them were in last season’s under-18s squad.

Steve Kean was pleased with the challenge posed by Brechin City, taking his young players “out of their comfort zone”. Picture: Paul Devlin / SNS

Reflecting on the nature of the challenge posed by Brechin, Kean said: “For any senior team – it doesn’t matter what division they are in – they don’t want to play against a team of predominantly younger players and get beat. So Brechin showed their appetite and enthusiasm. We’re disappointed we lost, but we have a lot of young players who will learn from playing against men in a proper, competitive game.

“It was a young team left on the pitch at the end. They were mostly the 2004s from the under-18s last season. When you’re playing against with a lot of senior players who have been round the block, that is a good part of their development. They were up against senior players who know how to manage the game.”

The development squad are being tested against different opponents this season and with Reserve League fixtures coming up as well as friendlies against English under-23 sides there is more to come. Kean likes the variety.

He explained: “We’ve already played a lot of senior teams. We’ve played Newtongrange, Tranent, Arsenal, Norwich, Sheffield Wednesday. All different types of teams, just so that we are changing the stimulant and making sure the players are out of their comfort zone. Because when you play in a game like this [against Brechin City in the SPFL Trust Trophy] it isn’t like academy football. This is proper men’s football where people are throwing their bodies on the line. It shows a different side to football and it is great for the young lads.”

Brechin’s goal and Kean’s decision to respond with a change of formation transformed Hibs into a far more threatening team in the final 20 minutes. It had been lacking until then. Hibs had plenty of possession in the first half but didn’t create a single chance.

“We couldn’t really penetrate,” explained Kean. “We were quite slow to move the ball side to side. With the system they were playing – a back three and wing backs – we have to swing them round and play side to side because if you go too straight too early it is very predictable.

“So that is something we mentioned at half time, swinging them round and hoping that we can then find a little pocket of space. When we went to three up top in the last 15 minutes we did find space, we did get penetration and more goal scoring opportunities. It is all part of the learning.”