WITH THE VICTORY OVER LIVINGSTON yesterday Hibs notched up four straight victories for the first time since October, and while that feat was no doubt impressive it was all the more frustrating given the artificiality of the SPL split and the fact the best the Easter Road outfit can hope for is 7th place no matter how many points are accumulated.

Nevertheless Bobby Williamson was typically pragmatic as to the issue, stating after the match: "Its probably a little too late. I do believe we're better than most teams we come up against just now, no disrespect to them but I just feel that this season we are and results bear that out. The teams above us are also better than us as we've not managed to beat them as often as we'd have liked and that's why we're sitting where we are. We want to do better than than that - we've got to do better than that to be honest. We're a big club and get a good support and we want to be where Kilmarnock and Hearts are at this time."

Williamson showed that he is not frightened to give youth an opportunity, with three players aged under 18 making the starting line-up and another on the bench, along with Derek Riordan. With regard to those who did make the starting line-up Bobby said:" I thought the four young boys did well like the rest of the guys who complimented them. I've got no complaints, we didn't have a bad player and everybody worked their corner and over the piece we probably just edged it."

One player who it looks like could have a future at Easter Road after having been told he was leaving is Darren Thomson. The young defender covered his territory efficiently yesterday and didn't look out of place in the starting eleven. When questioned as to whether Thomson had done enough to make Williamson reconsider his decision Bobby said: "Definitely - he's a good kid and I spoke to him last week but the difficult thing is you've got to tell players they're released before the season is finished and its not great. Darren hasn't managed to get into the first team this season and he's only managed to get in as we've been short of left sided players but I had no hesitation in putting him in and if it puts the boy in the shop window then good."

"I've enjoyed working with Darren and might be working with him a bit longer - we'll see how he does next week. The left side of defence is a problem for us and we've not really got an experienced player there. Darren has only just come out of the Under 18's this year and I felt it would be difficult to go with the kid next year. There's hard to decisions to be made - sometimes right, sometimes wrong, and I just hope the guys who have been at the club have enjoyed it and we'll try our best to get them fixed up elsewhere and take it from there. Its not a case of patting people on the back and showing them the door - its about helping them on in their careers whether or at Hibs or whether they go on elsewhere and I hope they enjoyed themselves at Hibs and can go on and have a successful career elsewhere. If they excel we'll get them back!

Another player who did his chances of a new contract no harm was goalkeeper Daniel Andersson. Bobby revealed that contrary to what was stated when he signed for the club Andersson is in fact contracted until the next winter break, but on evidence from both last week and yesterday Hibs would do well to tie the Swede up on a longer term deal. Bobby said: "I felt both goalkeepers had good saves at important times in the game. Thankfully we got the first one and thankfully the next one too, and as usual we conceded late on. I think big Janos managed to get a foot to it and deflect it past the goalkeeper as the guy was shooting but I'm glad we held strong and could probably have had a third one with a wee bit of luck."

Scott Brown puts Hibs in the lead (sns)

The question remains as to what the starting XI will look like at Easter Road next season, with so many faces coming and going. Clearly, if the youngsters keep up the performances seen of late then Bobby will find it necessary to give them even more opportunities, but the manager was quick to acknowledge the problem of too much too soon for the youngsters - stating: "They're in pole position at this moment in time - they're the guys that are holding on to the shirt. I would have no hesitation if that's the strike partnership at the start of the season. Might even play with three, we'll see how the preseason goes and its up to players to work their socks off and get as fit as they can do as I'll probably go with the fittest players."

"Its been this way  since the SPL was introduced and they started the two U21 player ruling. I think its been a great rule for Scottish football. Martin O'Neill and Big Eck aren't happy with it but forget about them, let them pick who they want and the rest of us can continue with the ruling. You've got to utilise our own talent, bringing them through and I think its helped most clubs. Aberdeen, Hearts Kilmarnock and Dundee United have brought through a lot of kids and we'll do so too, but if Rangers and Celtic don't want to do that then let them continue the way they want. They've got to compete in Europe and they feel they've got to pick their best teams so let them continue, I've not got a problem with that.

With regard to Brown and Riordan's partnership up front the manager said: "They've all got ability but its the level of fitness that is required and these two boys are superbly fit. If they keep progressing it augers well but you can't get too carried away - its late in the season, we've got another season ahead of us and you don't know how it'll pan out for kids, if they go down the wrong road it could be a problem, but if they keep their feet on the ground and keep working as hard as the fans demand then the future holds well for them."

With regard to foreign players at Easter Road it is clear that while Bobby respects the professionalism of all the players, he'd prefer to see more local talent coming through - he said: "We're a Scottish team and you've got to have that identity. You've got to have guys coming through the ranks who have seen guys working hard behind the scenes. We've had so many foreign players coming in who don't know the language and don't really know anything about Scottish football. When I first came in I think we had ten different nationalities in the dressing room - I think we're down to nine now!

"I'm not having a go at the foreign players- there's a lot of good foreign pros at our club as well and they certainly compliment the guys and have a good work ethic too, so its not a case of slating them. I feel it is necessary we develop our own talent." Interesting words from the Hibs boss, considering the fact that he has brought three different nationalities to Easter Road himself, in the form of a Hungarian, a Swede and yet another Frenchman!

With such a good string of results as that of late it would only be natural that players would wish the season was just beginning rather than finishing next week, especially given the confidence injection seen in the side. With regard to the self-belief shown Bobby said: "Sometimes its easy to lose that - one bad result, a freaky goal going against you and if you can't handle the pressure then it can take its toll. Its been a good learning experience for most of the players and myself and we want to go that step further next year, and climb higher up the league."