Hibs working hard on McLaren deal
Andy already looks like a Hibee!

ANDY MCLAREN GAVE EVERY IMPRESSION that he already regards himself as a Hibs player yesterday afternoon!  After 85 minutes of hard graft and no small amount of skill, McLaren returned the applause of the home support and it is now difficult to imagine that he will not be pulling on a Hibs shirt as an under-contract player perhaps as early as Saturday for the inaugural Festival Cup clash against Hearts.  Certainly any Hibs fan who was wavering over the value that McLaren would bring to Bobby Williamson's squad must surely now be convinced, the former Kilmarnock winger having operated on both flanks against Preston and Sunderland to great effect, with youngsters Scott Brown and Steven Dobbie in particular loving the service provided by a genuine old fashioned winger!

There was a hint this time last week that Hibs might have lost out on McLaren, with a clutch of clubs reported to be interested in the player.  That however was dismissed by McLaren himself, who earlier this week told fans that while he had an approach from England it was turned down flat.  Another sign perhaps that McLaren is determined to start the season with his old mentor Williamson, with the Hibs boss adding more hope to those willing McLaren to sign when he said of the player yesterday: "Andy McLaren has never been on trial here, I know what he can do so he has never been on trial.  We offered him training facilities and we are a wee bit short of bodies to be honest, we had 18 stripped today and that is the 18 available, apart from Colin Murdock and a couple of others who are injured.  So Andy was required to show us what he can do and he has done that, but as I say he has never been on trial.  I know what Andy can do and I think the board know what he is capable of doing as well, we are working hard to try and manage the size of the squad and we have players at the club who are needing to move on unfortunately and that may have a bearing on it.  But Andy showed a willingness to be here, and not being paid!  I feel for him but we are working hard to try and do something."

An entertaining game at Easter Road yesterday (sns)

The game against Sunderland was certainly full of action, and few in the 8,400 crowd will have complained about the entertainment on show, rare for such a game.  Williamson again made his intentions for the new season clear by fielding a 4-4-2 formation with Stephen Glass starting on the left and McLaren on the right flanks, Derek Riordan and Scott Brown resuming their strike partnership for the opening 45 minutes.  Glass looked like a player who needs a few more games under his belt, while of the strike pair Brown continued from where he left off at Preston, looking sharp and always willing to link up with McLaren.  The youngster finished superbly early in the game only to have his effort chalked off for an offside against McLaren, a decision the winger was not over pleased about!  Williamson however was happy enough and content that the customers had been entertained, saying: "It was a good work-out for the side.  Sometimes you are a bit concerned about making people pay to watch these games, but I don't think anyone can complain about the standard of this game.  Sunderland are still very much a Premiership team, they have not made that many changes yet," Williamson then noted that Tam McManus has sat down close by and added: "OK they had a few missing, but so have we, we had Tam McManus on the bench!"

Hibs first SPL opponents in a fortnight will have some guessing to do on who the Easter Road strikeforce will be, with all five Easter Road strikers showing some form in pre-season, none more so than Dobbie who could easily have had a hat-trick against Sunderland.  The Hibs boss said: "It's a nice headache to have, Tam can play up there as well of course so I believe we have five players who are capable of scoring goals, and they have to do that to try and remain in the team.  Dobbie took his goals very well, I was pleased for him because sometimes it can be frustrating to come in and score right away.  He showed the fans what he is capable of and I think he showed that in particular with his second goal, it's not easy to score from that distance and at that angle, and their goalkeeper is not very small is he!  He is a big lad and to get the ball into that far corner from the angle Steven was at took a bit of doing, and I'm pleased for him that he got himself off the mark."

Andy McLaren - deal imminent? (sns)

There was a moment in the first half at Easter Road when the entire stadium held its breath.  That came when a clash between Kyle and Grant Brebner left the Hibs man spinning in the air, it looked bad but fortunately Brebner was up and running again quickly.  "Grant was not really hurt, I was just changing things around," Williamson said, adding:  "Most of the midfield players have played 45 minutes, and we've been organising bounce games during the week that keeps them all ticking over.  Ian Murray has played the last two full 90-minutes because he has not been used during the week and he relishes the games."  The changes at half-time were extensive, with Dobbie and O'Connor taking over up front, McLaren moving to the left wing with Glass to his inside and Tam McManus taking up a right-midfield slot.  Hibs posed much more of a threat in that formation, with O'Connor looking much more like his former self with strong-running at the visiting defence.  It was of course Dobbie however who stole the show, his finishing superb enough but his positional sense, strength and work rate giving the home fans some cause to look forward to more of the same.

The worry of course is that the back four did not look any better than it had last season, and yet again a goal conceded in the last ten minutes, and a comical one at that, left fans wondering if we were about to suffer the same old problems.  Morten Hyldgaard had to pull off the last of a series of great saves to ensure the draw for Hibs in the end, but Williamson was making it clear that while the result did not matter much, he had noted the defensive frailties as much as the fans had.  He said: "I thought they put a lot into the game, but the result was never important anyway.  Perhaps it is better for them that we did get the draw and they don't get a bit of stick in their local papers!  We still have a fortnight to go before the season, and we still have a bit of work to do in particular defensively, we still have to try and get things organised there.  We will continue to work as I say, we are going forward, defensively though we have to organise."  The introduction of Murdock to that defence should help, and it could well be that another new face in that area of the park will also be arriving before the season starts for real.  If that proves to be the case, then Hibs fans this week have every reason to be cheerful.