Why Hibs are capable of ending 15-year wait for top-three finish

Garry O'Connor takes the plaudits from his team-mates after scoring in a 3-1 win over Celtic at Parkhead en route to a third-place finish

For a club of Hibs’ stature, it is remarkable to consider that they haven’t finished in the top three of Scotland’s top flight for 15 years.

Jack Ross’s steadily-improving, goal-laden side side have given themselves a fighting chance of righting this notable wrong in the club’s modern history.

After plunging to 11th place at one point in late October under Paul Heckingbottom, Hibs’ mid-season form burst - eight wins and three draws in their last 16 league matches - has elevated them to sixth place and within five points of Aberdeen and Motherwell, the two sides currently in joint-third place, with 11 games of the Premiership campaign remaining.

Hibs are the league’s third-top scorers and, having lost only one of their nine games in all competitions since the winter break, are currently in better form than both Aberdeen and Motherwell, the latter of whom have a game in hand.

Buoyed by an astute, squad-enhancing January transfer window, there is a growing feeling among the Hibs support that their team - having been in the thick of a relegation battle just four months ago - could yet secure a third-place finish for the first time since Tony Mowbray’s swashbuckling young team finished best of the rest behind the Old Firm in the 2004/05 season, when they pipped fourth-place Aberdeen on goal difference.

O'Connor 'amazed' by lack of top-three finishes

Garry O’Connor, one of the team’s two main strikers in that impressive campaign, is flabbergasted that Hibs haven’t made it into the top three in the intervening decade and a half.

“That amazes me,” he said, almost disbelievingly, when it was put to him by the Evening News.

Hibs’ remarkably prolonged absence from the top three is placed into context by the number of times similar-sized city clubs like Hearts and Aberdeen have managed to finish in the upper quarter of Scotland’s 12-team top-flight.

The seven clubs who've finished third since 2004/05

Since Hibs last finished in the top three, Hearts have achieved the feat four times and Aberdeen six times. Even Motherwell have finished four times in the top three since the Easter Road side last did so.

Kilmarnock, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, St Johnstone and Dundee United have also managed it once apiece.

While no trophies are handed out for finishing second or third, top-three status guarantees a European place and is usually indicative of an exceptional league campaign for any team outwith Rangers and Celtic, two clubs for whom nothing other than title glory will suffice.

The only other season since the turn of the millennium in which Hibs have finished in the top three was in 2000/01 when Alex McLeish’s side containing Russell Latapy and Franck Sauzee finished behind only the Old Firm and a whopping 12 points clear of fourth-place Kilmarnock.

Hibs 'unlucky' not to finish third under Lennon

As O’Connor was keen to point out, Hibs were “unlucky” not to finish in the top three two seasons ago under Neil Lennon when they were involved in a riveting end-of-season battle for second place with Aberdeen and Rangers and ended up settling for fourth despite finishing with a record haul of 67 points - one point more than McLeish’s vintage managed 19 years ago.

The 2017/18 campaign was one of only two occasions Hibs have made the top four in the last 15 years; the other was in 2009/10 under John Hughes, when they pipped Motherwell to fourth and finished nine points behind third-place Dundee United.

In total, Hibs have had a top-four finish five times since the turn of the millennium. By comparison, Aberdeen have done it 11 times in the last decade, while Hearts have done it eight times. “Hibs, for the size of the club, should be pushing for Europe every season, in my opinion,” said O’Connor.

While it would be no shame if Ross missed out this season considering he inherited a team in the bottom-six in November, the recently-installed manager has clearly hoisted them into a position where they have a genuine chance of attaining third or fourth place.

Permutations

Currently on 36 points, Hibs would have to win all of their remaining 11 games to beat their tally of 67 from two seasons ago. While there is virtually no chance of that scenario coming to fruition, Hibs would be unlikely to need as many points this time round to secure a European position by dint of their league position as their main rivals this year are notably less consistent than the Aberdeen and Rangers sides they were vying with two seasons ago.

The current Dons side have won only one of their last seven games in all competitions while Motherwell haven’t won any of their last six.

O’Connor was eager to stress that Livingston, who are a point ahead of Hibs, shouldn’t be discounted from the European mix, but the highly-regarded former Easter Road striker has been impressed with Hibs’ resurgence under Ross and sees no reason why they can’t get themselves into third place over the next three months.

“It’s going to be exciting,” he said. “Aberdeen are hot and cold at the minute, I think Motherwell are actually a bit stronger than them. But I think Jack’s done an absolutely great job since he came in.

"Hibs have tended to improve in the second half of the last couple of seasons under Lenny and Paul Heckingbottom, so if they can keep their form going into the later stages of the season, they’ll definitely be right up there pushing.”