After last weeks defeat of Kilmarnock I thought to myself that “at last we have played with a bit of width."  I believe that we have at last seen what the team were capable of, we once again saw it on Tuesday night when we beat Queen of the South, I think we should have won by more, but credit where credits due, Queens never gave up and although a 2-1 Score line is flattering I would have taken it before kick off.

Any how onto today’s game and a very tricky visit to Dens Park to take on “duff Jimmy’s” Dundee, Now many fans remember Mr Duffy as the man who arrived into the Easter Rd hot seat in a helicopter and claim he would return Hibs to the summit of the Scottish game, Boy were we in for a real shock, we were in the relegation play off against Airdrie at the end of season 1 and by the time season number 2 was nearly finished, the board realised he had to go, and Alex McLeish  came in, unfortunately though the damage was done and we were relegated. But Jim Duffy has bounced back after a spell at Chelsea as director of Youth coaching; he was once again lured back to his beloved Dundee after the Bonnetti brothers had almost destroyed them. He has taken them back into Europe and they lost out to Rangers in last seasons Scottish Cup Final. The start to this season has been fantastic with the Dens park me sitting in 4^th, that along with the exciting signings of Craig Burley and The White Feather, Fabrizio Ravanelli.

Roland Edge - knee damage keeps him out (sns)

Dundee have no Injury worries and look certain to name a team which could include, Speroni, Rae, Nemzadze, Burley, Novo, Caballero and of  course Ravanelli. A number of names there being ones which most managers in the SPL would love to have.

Hibs meanwhile have Yannick Zambernardi and Roland Edge definitely out.  Further investigation in the injury to the Frenchman reveals more damage than first thought and he will be out for a month, while Edge does not expect to return to action until Hibs play Hearts at Tynecastle later this month.  Hibs can ill afford to lose the services of both their left-sided defenders with such a small squad available, but there was good news in that Gary Smith looks to be back in the side.  Smith has played at left back in his career at Aberdeen, and although it is not his favoured position by any means he could slot into that role against Dundee rather than Alan Reid, who played there for the second half against Queen of the South. Scott Brown will also be back in to contention after his sublime performances for Scotland U/19 team last week scoring a goal in each of Scotland’s 3 games. He will however have to settle for a place on the bench with Tam McManus having played the last two matches, and to be honest, playing reasonably well.  Brown's exclusion however is nothing to do with his ability and everything to do with having played 3 games for Scotland Under-19's an just a few days - something that angered Hibs boss Bobby Williamson, who rightly pointed out that players at that age should never be asked to play so many games in such a short time.

Williamson then made it clear yesterday that he would not play Scott Brown, certainly from the start, at Dens Park today which effectively means that Brown's Scotland call-up cost him his place in the Hibs side for three games - and as the manager also pointed out, cost the player two win bonuses!  That of course is the last thing that will be on the youngsters mind as he celebrated scoring for the young Scotland side in all three games, a point noted by Williamson who while angered at his young star having to play so many games was all the same delighted that he had done so well for his country.