Gang of four
Williamson looks to strengthen with quadruple new faces

IT CAME AS NO SURPRISE to Hibs fans at Easter Road yesterday to see their favourites lose yet another late goal which in turn allowed Partick Thistle to travel back along the M8 with the three points in tow. That penchant for conceding late on has stretched right from the first day of the season against Aberdeen to yesterdays fixture and the fact that it has yet to be addressed is nothing short of worrying to say the least.

The first half had witnessed a good solid performance from Hibs, and while that was in no way repeated during the second period Bobby Williamson was happy with the game overall - stating: "I thought it was a very good game - Thistle came through and got behind the ball at times, especially when they got the second one, they got everyone behind it, making it difficult for us and I thought it was a good move to break them down but they fought their corner and gave it everything they've got and they've gone away with the three points, although I'm not too sure they deserved the three of them"

 
While the result may not have favoured Hibs it was nonetheless encouraging to see so many youngsters making their way into the starting line up, with youth really starting to pay dividends for Hibs in recent weeks. The Hibs boss took time to praise his youthful side, in particular delivering a plea for Ian Murray to be given some peace and quiet over the summer break - stating: "They've done well - you've got to remember that Ian Murray has just come out of the U21's himself this year and McManus, and O'Connor to come back - it was quite a young team when you think about it. It doesn't matter about age though - if they're old enough they're good enough and they're hoping to go out and do themselves justice. Ian Murray has had a long, long season and I hope you take it easy with him over the course of the summer."

While so many youngsters are coming through the ranks at Easter Road it would no doubt be foolhardy to think that such youth would be enough to take Hibs through next season alone, and Williamson clearly realises that his squad remains quite threadbare - he said: "We've still got to add a few bodies - at this moment in time we've got twenty in our squad and we still need to add another four. I wish it was another six, but it'll be another four, and its up to us to get players in who will compliment the squad and we wish the players all the best who have left us."

Joost Volmer -one of four?

Even with the four new faces spoken of that certainly leaves a big gap in terms of the size of the squad seen this season, and the question remains just how Hibs will cope next term with such a tight pool. The reason for such cutbacks is clearly financial, and Bobby acknowledged that - stating: "We've still got experienced players about the place. I'll be casting a wide net and hopefully get the players to do justice, but its a big transitional time in football at the moment, with the money going out the game and players wages coming down and we've got to make sure that we get quality players in at a price we can afford and not overshoot our budget. So many people have been complaining about players earning too much money, so maybe it'll give us some respect"

With regard to the game itself Bobby was clearly frustrated with some of the decisions that didn't go the way of the home team, in particular concerning the build up to two of the Thistle goals - he said: "Ian Murray was rammed from the back when he passed the ball back to the goalkeeper for the third goal, and I thought Janos Matyus was impeded when he tried to make a defensive header for the second. I'm not blasting the referee, I'm not irate, angry or raging - I'm disappointed with the decisions we didn't get. I'll watch it on TV though and if I'm wrong I'll make an apology and I'm sure Mr Underhill will do the same - not!"

On an afternoon marked with sentimentality Chic Charnley was given a warm reception by the Easter Road faithful in what would be his last ever game as a professional, the midfielder now moving into coaching the Under 18 and Under 19 squads at Firhill, and Williamson paid tribute to Chic, along with explaining why he couldn't bring Mixu Paatelainen into the fray for his last ever appearance in a Hibs jersey - stating: "I felt Thistle played very well, and if that's Chic's last game he got a good reception from our fans - he was obviously very popular through here and it was good that big Gerry could manage to do that. I'd have loved to put Mixu Paatelainen on the park but he was struggling with a wee injury, trained the last couple of days but he was also a booking away from a suspension and St Johnstone wouldn't have thanked me for that, because he's more than capable of picking up the bookings given his style of play but he's another one I wish all the best to - I'm sure he's got a long career ahead in coaching and still playing football.

Meanwhile, in other Hibs news it was confirmed that the Hibees will travel to Lancashire on Saturday 19th July to take on Preston North End in a pre-season friendly.