'We won it for wee Gav,' says homegrown Hibs hero as long-time club servant inspires derby performance
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If Hibs players needed any extra inspiration ahead of a Boxing Day contest at Tynecastle, they didn’t have far to look. The very presence of long-time club servant Gav Gillies in the visitors’ dressing room, just 24 hours after his release from hospital, delivered precisely the emotional boost required to bag their first derby away win in exactly five years.
Gillies had taken seriously ill while in hospital for an operation just a week earlier. Yet he was standing sentry to welcome the players as they ventured into enemy territory on Thursday.
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Hide AdFormer academy kid Josh Campbell, interrupting his own post-game euphoria over playing such a crucial role in a huge victory for David Gray’s men, revealed: “I'm just going to give a shout out to wee Gav, who fell really ill last week. There was no doubt I had - and all the boys were the same, I think - that he'd be there for the derby.
“He was. And he got the win. So I just wanted to give a wee shout out to wee Gav. He got the boys through it.”


Expanding on the importance of Gillies, now in a kit man role but with a track record of turning his hand to almost any task in decades with the club, Campbell revealed: “I've been at Hibs for 16, 17 years. He was there the first day I was there, welcoming me in.
“And he's a real big character at the training ground, that man. If you come in from a defeat at the weekend, he'll lift the spirits right away.
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Hide Ad“Whether he's singing, whether he's dancing. Bad jokes. I've heard all the jokes, so I just sit and just ignore them. Because I've heard them all. All the new boys get to hear them over and over again.
“But no, it was bad to hear the news of Gav, because he's massive for us. And when we walked in the changing room and saw him at the door, it put a real smile on the face of everyone.”
For Campbell, the sweet taste of victory was something to be truly savoured. A lifelong Hibs fan who grew up to play for the club he supports, his first win at Tynecastle was always going to be special.
“Mental,” he said, simply, when asked about the experience, the 24-year-old adding: “Words can't describe that to be fair. To be with the fans at the end was incredible, hearing them singing your name; it's just the best feeling in the world.”
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Hide AdHoping to retain his starting place for tomorrow’s visit of Kilmarnock, Campbell was bombed out of the match day squad completely at one stage earlier this season. Head coach David Gray made it clear, too, that he’d been dropped as a direct result of performances.
So to be not only back involved, but to have won a straight selection battle with veteran No.10 Junior Hoilett for the last two games, means a lot, the attacking midfielder admitting: “Yeah, absolutely delighted. Every year I'll come out of the team sometimes because I've not been performing, which is fair enough. I've always said that.
“But I'll never shy away from working behind the scenes to get back in. I've done that and the manager’s put the trust in me to put me back out there.”
Gray spoke at the start of the campaign about building his team around Campbell, who he sees as a very different type of 10. The player himself describes the need to give 150 per cent – please don’t write in, we know – in a sort of hybrid role.
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Hide AdExplaining how he’d blossomed since the switch to a 3-4-1-2 giving him license to roam behind the front two of Elie Youan and Martin Boyle, Campbell said: “It just gives them the freedom to do what they want because I'm happy to do other people's running. I'll do the man-and-a-half running.
“So it allows them to have the freedom of floating about the front line and doing what they want. And I'll throw myself about.
“It's a new position. Well, not new now, but I'm more an eight. Box to box, as you say. But I'm happy to do it as a 10 because I love being the box and scoring goals and having chances. I think I'm a threat.
“We’ve also got Joe Newell and Nectar Triantis in behind me. They’re similar guys to me, in that they want it so badly. They have that running power to put in tackles and put themselves about.”