All hands on deck!
Bobby set to deal Baillie and Thomson back in for trip west...

With the numbers of players available for selection seemingly dropping every week, Hibs boss Bobby Williamson has been boosted by the return of Jonathan Baillie and Kevin Thomson to the squad for this afternoon's clash with Partick thistle at Firhill.  Baillie has served his one match suspension for the straight red card he received last Sunday against Celtic after Craig Beattie appeared to lift the young defender up by the nostrils, an action that saw him get off scot-free!  Although he was quite clearly provoked at the time, the fact that Baillie reacted disappointed Williamson although he should be able to learn from the experience.

“Jonathan Baillie is back in the squad and available for selection, he had to come straight back in as we don’t really have many options. Time will tell if he has learned from last Sunday, I remember I put him in against Celtic in the league cup and then left him back out on the Sunday - that was because I know what his frailties are, and discipline is one of them at this moment."  Discipline has been a problem at Easter Road all through the season with three players receiving red cards and 54 yellow cards being shown to Hibs players in just twenty seven games!  Baillie though has also suffered for his cause at the lower Under 21 level, a fact that encouraged the Hibs boss to leave him out of senior team duty in a bid to teach him the error of his ways!  “He has been sent off a couple of times in the Under-21’s, and while people have questioned me for leaving him out but I know that he is still a bit of a bomb-scare at the moment and he will become better as he gets older and listens to the advice that he is getting. It augers well for him but back then I think that I made the right decision, and last Sunday kind of proved that to me!"

Whittaker set to feature again this afternoon?  (sns)

Another player who will return to the squad is Kevin Thomson.  Thomson, who was substituted after just 28 minutes of Wednesday night's match due to injury, has declared himself fit for the trip to Glasgow.  “Kevin seems to think that he will be fit enough to be involved tomorrow, that is good news. I thought he started the game against Motherwell very well, but unfortunately he did not last very long and that was unfortunate. The kid is prepared to go through the pain barrier, and we do need all hands on deck right now.”  Whether Bobby takes the chance on the midfield star remains to be seen but in Alan Reid and Steven Whittaker, he feels he has able replacements with the former in particular drawing praise.

“They have had a chance to get a run in the team, especially Alan Reid and I feel he has done very well. We are of course hoping that they do have good games and we get good results, but unfortunately that’s not been the case in games recently. We have to try and go that step further tomorrow, although it will not be easy as Firhill has not been an easy venue for anyone to visit. We know it is going to be tough but we just hope we can get the breaks on the day if we work as hard as we can do.”  Getting the breaks is something that Hibs haven't had much of lately with Wednesday's game being the perfect example!  Hopefully though, this weekend's game will see a change in that misfortune and allow the Easter Road side to make a final push for a place in the top six once the League splits towards the end of April.

One thing that this season will have done for Hibs is given a large number of players the experience of playing at the top level domestically and under circumstances that no-one would disagree with if they were described as difficult at times.  Did Bobby think that the playing squad would be stronger next season for the highs and lows of the season to date?  “I hope so, a lot of them have had a taste of things and equipped themselves reasonably well. They can only get better with experience, but you never know the pitfalls that lay ahead for young players in today’s society."  One aspect of footballing life that has certainly dogged the sport of football of late is publicity, and not all of it good!  "There are a lot of footballers getting headlines for the wrong reasons, and it just seems to be footballers who are being identified but I’m sure in all walks of life there are people falling foul of the newspaper articles. We have to be focussed on the football and that is what we try to do.”

I was wildly wrong on Wednesday predicting a goal-less draw but who could have predicted a game like that!  Hibs will be buoyed by the fact that they were able to get forward and score two fairly early goals and dominate the first half and I feel that today will be no different.  The question is whether the same team comes back out for the second half that starts the first!  If Hibs play like they did during Wednesday's opening forty five minutes, then I have no difficulty in predicting a win, and one that may give Williamson a little more breathing space with the Hibs support.  The midfield will once again be the key to Hibs performance and I think that we'll just win the battle in there, one which will give the Capital side a 2-0 victory.  However, should they allow the home side to score first.....