TURN THE CLOCK BACK A YEAR and any mention of the strike force which took to the park at Almondvale on Saturday past would have been met with bewilderment by Hibs fans at that time. While Derek Riordan had made a fleeting run of first team appearances under Franck Sauzee, young Scott Brown was a raw 16 year old who could only really have harboured ambitions about gaining some experience in the few U21 games that might have come his way during the following season.

Such a difference twelve months makes, and while Riordan may have appeared to be drifting further out of the picture when he was farmed out to Cowdenbeath back in January, the departure of Paco Luna to Almeria resulted in that loan spell being cut short, while niggling injuries to Tam McManus and in particular Garry O'Connor along with the departure of Luna and Craig Brewster meant that young strikers at Easter Road such as Riordan and Brown found themselves closer to the first team than they may have imagined.

Speaking after the game on Saturday Riordan was quick to acknowledge that Hibs have a number of decent youngsters coming through the ranks, and was quick to praise fellow rookie Brown - stating: "We've got quite a lot of good young players at the club coming through - Scott Brown getting two goals showed he's doing well. He's fast - and aggressive, and he's got both feet too. He was involved in all three against Aberdeen and did well today too."

Given the number of young players leaving Easter Road in the next few weeks it has been refreshing to see two youths who really look like they could go on to make their mark at Easter Road taking the opportunity when given to them, and Riordan appears to be extremely level-headed about the opportunity presented to him - stating: "You've just got to keep playing well really - and try and get a couple of games in. We've just got to take a chance if given to us. We pair up with different strike partners just like in the games so every striker is used to each other in training."
 

Scott Brown celebrates his second of the afternoon (sns)

Despite such a young strike force in Brown and Riordan - the former not yet eligible to vote and the latter stand for parliament  - it must be kept in mind that there is three years between the two in terms of age. That might be difficult to comprehend especially given the composure of Brown, the youngster refusing to be provoked by Scott Leitch against Motherwell last week in a situation where many would have retaliated, but the age gap comes into play when one considers the number of times the strikers have played together.

When questioned about his experience of playing with Brown at Under 21 or other levels Riordan revealed that their relationship was very much a new one - stating: "We've not played together very much to be honest - maybe about eight games or so. I  think our pace helps us quite a lot with getting past defenders. He was in the youth team so I only saw him in the U21 team when he came up. He played with the younger ones and so the U21's was the only time we played together."

With regard to the post-season, Riordan unsurprisingly takes the view that the end of the season has come far too early for him, especially given the injury problems suffered early on. Nevertheless the youngster, who has done well with a high protein diet this season in order to build a greater upper body strength is eager to get back into the pre-season without the encumbrance of injury which he faced last year - he said:  "It's a holiday for a month and then back with the hard  pre-season training. I was injured for 6 months when the manager came in and it took me around six months to get back from that tendon injury. This season I've played around nine or ten games.  You've just got to keep on playing well and hopefully the gaffer picks you. I've got to make an impression - keep on playing well and hopefully keep scoring."