Young guns have surprised me!
Despite having his hand forced over team selection, Bobby Williamson has been pleasantly surprised by the choices he's had to make…

ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS THAT MANY PEOPLE WOULD HAVE DONE AFTER LAST WEEKEND would have been to make the players involved in the Celtic game sit down and watch the horror show on video to see where they went so badly wrong in the second half.  Indeed, some would have them watch it over and over again!  Bobby Williamson on the other hand has a much different approach to these matters and, although he had the players in on Christmas Day, would not subject them to any further humiliation in front of their colleagues.

"The players did not need to watch a video of that game, I watch it and then talk to each player individually.  I don't think that it is a good idea to have everyone in collectively and watch a video of the game and highlight individual mistakes in front of everyone else.  We played a lot of good football in the game against Celtic, we did show that we can trouble any team in this league I feel - but unfortunately we were reduced to ten men and it was downhill from there."  One thing that Bobby always tries to do is to accentuate the positives, even though many others won't have seen any!  With the younger players though, the Hibs boss does have a point!

Thomson has starred in the first team despite average Under 21 performances (sns)

Despite their positivety on the park, they will undoubtedly have been hurt by last week's result but that's something that Williamson has to get them over in the run up to kick off this afternoon.  "It is always hard to lift things again in particular when you have lost a game in the manner that we did on Saturday.  But you have to suffer defeats, I don' t like sweeping them under the carpet too quickly but you have to start focussing on the next game.  We have to put the last result behind us and learn our lessons from that, and there were a few harsh lessons to be learned."  What last week did do, for the fans at any rate, was to bring to a head a few areas of the park that need to be strengthened, or indeed added to during the January transfer window.  With Jarkko Wiss being offered a deal to terminate his contract early, there could be an opportunity for Williamson to bring in a new face or two however the Hibs boss was keeping his cards very close to his chest on that front.

"I don't know if we will do anything during the transfer window, things can change very quickly.  If we pick up a few injuries or pick up suspensions during the winter and the window is still open then perhaps there will be funds there to try and strengthen but I just don't know.  I am always looking, there are always players out there being recommended and I'm no different from any other manager in that I'll have a look at the situation and make sure I have something if there is a big cash windfall comes my way and we can add to the squad.  We have our ideal number that we are looking to work with and we have to stick to that."  The chances of a big cash windfall are somewhere in the region of slim to non-existent however with cash potentially being freed from the wage bill, there could be an opportunity to bring in a more experienced player to help bring the younger ones through.

Breaking through and coming on they are though although some have been forced into the position they currently find themselves in.  One of those is Scott Brown who has been one of the sides mainstays throughout the season so far.  Although not all of these players have been on merit, they have grabbed the opportunity with both hands, something that Bobby has been pleasantly surprised about.

Established himself quickly since 'forced' introduction (sns)

"Injuries have certainly helped some of the younger lads to make the breakthrough.  Sometimes when you have a small squad you have to do that, it is not ideal to press some players in that you feel may not be ready but one or two can surprise you.  But you would like to get your more experienced players back into contention as the only way to keep players playing well is when they know that there is a threat to their retaining the strip.  There are a few of them in there just now who know that we just don't have anyone in there behind them to replace them just now.  The more players we get fit and available for selection the better it should become.

"To be honest one or two of the youngsters have surprised me.  I did not think that Scott Brown would establish himself so quickly, nor Derek Riordan.  Thomson has also come in and did very well, I've pointed out before that his Under-21 performances did not merit selection, but because of someone else's misfortunate he got an opportunity and he has proved to me now that he can play at this level and I hope he continues to do that until we can get Ian Murray back and Stephen Glass and the other guys to start to put them under pressure again.  At the time there were not many options, I could have shuffled about a bit and kept him on the bench for a while but I always knew he had the ability, but they have to earn the right to play in the first team and that is through performing well for the Under-21's and if they do that and the guy in their position in the first team is not doing well then you change it.  But if they are not doing very well then you have to persevere with the guy that is in the first team.  Sometimes it's harder to get out of the team than it is to get into it!"

On the team news front for this afternoon, Derek Riordan is unavailable due to his straight red card against Celtic last weekend while Roland Edge and Yannick Zambernardi are likely to be in the stand once again.  Stephen Glass though has a chance to make it into the squad although this is by no means certain and will probably be given until the last minute to prove his fitness.

RadioHibs will go live from Easter Road this afternoon with online match commentary in a landmark move by the Easter Road club.  The station will now carry all home league games starting with the Partick Thistle clash today as part of it's move to involve Hibs fans from around the world.  Currently only the Old Firm have such a service and this move to invoke it's share of 'New Media Rights' is only the first in what will be a long campaign to help Hibs bring fans back to the club as part of the Stand Up And Be Counted campaign.