So now all of that European stuff is wrapped up until February and the first piece of silverware is tucked away in the trophy cabinet – not that it ever left – we play our first League game since a week ago on Wednesday when we left it late, really really late, to beat plucky Hamilton whilst Rangers blew a two-goal lead up at Pittodrie.
They are away at Motherwell for a noon kick-off and then later in the day we entertain Hibs.
The Leith side are currently under their second manager in this campaign with the appointment of Jack Ross having dispensed with the services of his predecessor Paul Heckingbottom in early November after he won only one in eleven league games and none in ten.
Since his departure, the Hibees have benefitted from the new manager bounce with three wins and a draw in five games since Ross’s arrival having also hammered St.Johnstone 4-1 away whilst under the one game temporary tenure of youth team coach Eddie May.
In his first two games in charge, JR oversaw an impressive 3-1 home win over high flying Motherwell and then a 2-1 away win at struggling St.Mirren.
Normal service was resumed for Hibs it seemed as his new charges gave up a two-goal lead to be held 2-2 at home to Kilmarnock before throwing away another lead up at Dingwall where they went down 2-1 to Ross County.
However last weekend Hibernian produced their best performance of the season as they smashed then third-placed Aberdeen resoundingly 3-0 at Easter Road.
This was made even more impressive by the fact that the Dons had only lost one in nine league games and were unbeaten in six going in which included coming back from two goals down to claim a 2-2 draw in their previous match against Rangers.
Their star men that day were the Australian internationalist from Aberdeen Martin Boyle who is not long back from a long injury and claimed two goals as well as Swiss striker Florian Kamberi who scored a cracker.
In all competitions this season Kamberi has eights goals in 21 games though it’s summer signing Christian Doidge who leads their scoring charts with nine in 21 total games and seven in his last six league matches.
Daryl Horgan and Stevie Mallan were both impressive last season for Hibs in an attacking sense but they only have three goals apiece this term but the former’s wing play on the break and the latter’s long-distance shooting can’t be discounted.
The main man though is former Celt Scott Allan who pretty much runs the show from midfield and also offers a goal-scoring threat with seven strikes so far this term.
Shackle him and Hibs will struggle though Boyle’s pace and direct attacking play can also be an issue so the full-backs will have to be wary as will Jullien and Ajer if caught on the back foot.
Hibs are currently sixth in the league and a surprise win tomorrow could propel them up to fifth and only four points behind Aberdeen dependent on results elsewhere so they have plenty at stake and despite a nine-point gap they must have their eyes on the third spot currently occupied by Motherwell.
For us, the win could either get us back to the top or extend out current two-point lead dependant on Rangers result earlier in the day against Motherwell.
Truth be told we’ve struggled of late with a poor display at home to Hamilton only being saved by Scott Brown’s late strike and we were second best all day in last Sunday’s League Cup final against Rangers despite claiming the silverware courtesy of Christopher Jullien’s clearly onside goal* and the magnificent Fraser Forster.
I don’t put much stock in Thursday night’s 2-0 Europa League loss away at Cluj as there was nothing on the line for us and the vast majority of our regular first eleven didn’t even make the trip never mind start.
Hopefully, the likes of Forster, Frimpong, Brown, McGregor, Christie and Forrest come back in well-rested and refreshed and we might even see a lot more of Odsonne Edouard than we did last Sunday too which will be very welcome. It’d also be nice to see Mohamed Elyounoussi also get back to the form that saw him rip Hibs apart 5-2 at Hampden Park in the League Cup semifinal back in early November in the game that put laid to Paul Heckingbottom’s sorry reign.
....Always A Tim! 