Riordan to the rescue!
Supersub Deek happy with two goal performance

THE LAST TWELVE MONTHS HAS PROVEN to be a somewhat unorthodox riches to rags and then back again story for Hibs striker Derek Riordan. As a raw 18 year old the striker found himself thrown in at the deep end at Tynecastle in December 2001 by then manager Franck Sauzee, and the Frenchman was to instil a trust in young Deek that would see him taking part in every fixture from then on until the end of the short lived Sauzee managerial era, making an eight further first team appearances in the process.

After the appointment of Bobby Williamson the young striker once more found himself playing in the Under 21 squad, and apart from the briefest of dalliances in the League Cup against Alloa back in September, Riordan's next first team football was to be over the Forth, on loan to Cowdenbeath where the young striker managed to net four goals in three appearances for the Central Park outfit before being recalled after the departure of Paco Luna.

While Riordan since made the odd appearance it has only in reality been in the last month that the youngster has began to show his true potential in the first team, opening his account with a stunning freekick against Livingston before making his mark on Saturday with a double against Aberdeen, the latter being even more remarkable given the fact the youngster started the game on the bench. Speaking afterwards Riordan revealed he himself didn't feel 100% -  stating: "I had a sore neck before the match which had been bothering me since Thursday but it was brilliant to come on and score goals. Scoring my first was the best feeling ever. Nice to get two today as well!"
 

Derek Riordan - a brighter future? (sns)

Perhaps the most remarkable part of the win over Aberdeen was the way in which both Riordan and Brown came off the bench and struck up such a well-oiled partnership in such a short period of time. In direct contrast to what Bobby Williamson stated to the press earlier, Riordan revealed that his relationship with Brown was a new one - stating: "Scott isn't really a player I know that well - he's in the younger group. We've only trained this week - he usually trains with the youth team but if we need players he'll come up. He's a good young player, fast too - with both of us being pacy it helped out with the long ball. It was quiet odd playing with someone else so young- we're dead young up front and I thought we did OK together and we've just got to keep it going. Its always brilliant to win a game - for the fans, it'll help cheer them up."

It was when on loan at Cowdenbeath that Riordan really drew attention to himself with a hat-trick against Brechin in an extraordinary 7-5 win for the Blue Brazil at Glebe Park, and Deek is certainly of the view that help him, along with having always been a Hibernian supporter and having watched Hibs as a youngster - he said: "It was good playing with older experienced players - Keith Wright helped me out there too. I've always been a Hibs fan since I was a wee boy - I went to all the games. My family are Hibs fans too, and my cousins and uncle were here today. With regard to heroes, I used to like Keith Houchen, Keith Wright, Kevin Harper and Tony Rougier - there were a few good players at Hibs over the years!"

With regard to the future, Riordan showed an optimism that one can only hope will osmose  to whoever will be his team mates next season, and in closing he said: "Its brilliant to see youth players coming through. If the young ones come in they'll get a chance again next season. Its up to the manager whether I play next week though! I want to try and win a place in the team - just got to keep on scoring goals and playing well."