Hibernian, give us a goal!
Or at least make them a more regular occurrence as Richard seems to have a glass ball in his possession....

A victory would be nice too, but the main thing wrong with Hibs right now is that we simply are not scoring nearly enough goals. I’m in the ridiculous situation of having to write my column before the result of last night’s match because I’m going to it, but this is the thing really causing us problems right now. It’s been about a month since Hibs last scored, and that’s something that has to change quickly. Unfortunately I just can’t see where one is coming from and the longer it goes on, the more desperate things will get. I just hope that we manage to alter this situation, particularly as the last time we scored, we won, Hibs beating Kilmarnock 2-0 at Rugby Park. The idea of two Hibs goals in the one game seems like manna from heaven right now. Hopefully it will be a bit like buses, namely you wait ages and then 3 turn up at once. If we haven’t won, we can realistically forget a top six place and that will have many calling for the manager’s head.

Injuries to experienced players haven’t helped and another one has been added to the list. Gary Smith, who has endured an injury-plagued season so far, is set for a further spell on the sidelines after breaking a bone in his foot in training while Dobbie badly twisted his ankle in the game against Celtic at the weekend. Given that we are already missing Murray, Glass and Brebner through long-term injury, with Kevin Thomson nursing a hernia, the latest losses will be especially hard felt. The loss of Dobbie is a big blow for me because he looked like our biggest goal threat on Sunday, with his direct runs and general predatory instincts in and around goal. That is an assessment Bobby Williamson agreed with, the gaffer telling Hibs.net,  "It’s quite a blow for us, he was quite useful on Sunday and if we were going to get a goal it looked like it was going to come from him either as an assist or scoring himself."

Dobbie is added to the injury list at Easter Road  (sns)

Questions though, will inevitably be raised about the wisdom of signing Stephen Glass in the first place given that he has spent most of the first year of a three year contract injured, the player having something of a reputation for being injury-prone. In today’s era of reduced squad sizes, it seems questionable whether Hibs can afford injury-prone players, no matter their quality. We all know Glass is quality and it should be no surprise that we have generally done a lot better with him in the team. His crossing in particular has been sorely missed. One is also left wondering about the kind of training regime and general culture at Easter Road given the huge number of injuries in the first team squad. What do they do to them during the week?

Williamson has had to throw a number of young players into action before he would otherwise have liked this season, and Stephen Fletcher has been added to the squad for the game against Motherwell. Fletcher is a young striker with decent potential and a good eye for goal, but the under-21 side haven’t exactly been scoring for fun of late, although they stuffed their Aberdeen equivalent 4-0 recently and recorded a very creditable 0-0 draw against Celtic on Monday. Garry O’Connor has also returned to first team duty, the young striker having been given leave of absence at the weekend. Of his recent misdemeanour, the club have merely said that he has been disciplined. If he does play, he should be under no illusions that he has something to prove, general disquiet being the tone amongst the Hibs.net message board faithful.

Meanwhile Terry Butcher has said that any bad feeling that he held towards Hibs has evaporated after their 2-0 win at Easter Road earlier in the season, Butcher having previously damaged a door and Motherwell annoyed at Hibs voting in favour of admitting Falkirk to the SPL at the expense of the cash-strapped club. I hope that has changed after last night, even if it costs us a dressing room door or two.

Alan Reid is certainly optimistic. He told Hibs.net ahead of the Motherwell game:  "We have quite a few important games coming up and we just need to pick up points, that has been our problem of late. Even though we have not won in a while, I don't think it has been all bad.

"Before the final, we were picking up a lot of draws and not victories and we just have to start trying to grind points out, hopefully starting against Motherwell. There is no point in getting all the credit for being a good young team, we have to prove it now and start climbing up the table and make the top six achievable, and I think it is."

I hope so. I also hope Alan Reid starts to display some of the potential that he evidently has and soon. Indeed, one of the constant criticisms of Bobby Williamson from the message board is about team selection and tactics, and fielding Alan Reid. To my mind Reid looks like a promising young player, but he has been one of the longest servants at Easter Road and would do well to step up a gear, otherwise he could find himself playing his football elsewhere.  With Reid scoring last night, I for one will regard that as decent progress for a star.