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by Robert Bald

Date: 29 November 2003

We can catch them out
 Kevin Thomson believes that Rangers are there for the taking despite their strength in depth....

IF ANYONE HAD SAID TO ME LAST WEEK THAT I WOULD GO ALONG TO TYNECASTLE, see a 2-0 win and Orman and Smith would score the goals I'd have bit have bitten their hand off. Unfortunately however it was to be 2 own goals and in a game which had 0-0 written all over it somehow they got a win.

Although the performance at Tynecastle was not great, one player who had a good game was rising star Kevin Thomson who yesterday told Hibs.net "I'm a little disappointed about last week, obviously everyone at Hibs knows that was a bad result - but fingers crossed we can apply ourselves correctly on Sunday and perhaps give our fans something to shout about" He went on to say he felt the same disappointment as the Hibs fans. "It is the same for everybody but I do think that myself being a Hibs fan, and all my family being Hibs supporters then last week does stick a bit in the back of the throat, it always does when you get beaten by a team like Hearts"

Even though he felt disappointment he thoroughly enjoyed the experience and felt his own performance wasn't too bad, although he admitted the pace of the match startled him "I enjoyed the game, the first 15 or 20 minutes were pretty hectic but once the game settled down and I got a few touches I was more involved. I think you need an early touch and perhaps a good pass in a game like that to get yourself into the pace of the game, but as soon as I found the pace I found it alright."

"I think the bigger the game is the better, you excel yourself more in a big game. Last Sunday was a big stage for me at Tynecastle, and I thought I did alright, apart of course from the result!"

And so to this week and it doesn't get any easier you were at the first game of the season against Rangers at Ibrox you will know that we deserved a lot more out of the match than a 3 goal defeat. Even Rangers boss Alex McLeish admitted after the match that the score line flattered his team, Hibs twice have taken the lead in the first half only to be pegged back before Tam McManus had a penalty saved by Gers keeper Stefan Klos early in the second half, which turned out to be the turning point of the game as Rangers went on to score 3 late goals as the Hibs defence did their usual domino impressions, and falling down

Let's hope the team show the same character as the Ibrox visit but with a different outcome.

Certainly the BBC think that tomorrow's game will be high in the entertainment stakes as they are showing it to the whole country.  Kevin Thomson is in two minds whether that’s a good thing or not and especially in his case being a lad from a small town “It has its good points and bad points playing in front of a national television audience. I come form Peebles and I think everyone will be watching so it's nice to try and do well for them as well as for myself and the club.” he went on to say that his rise to fame has been a pleasant experience “It is nice when people come up to you and say you've done well, Peebles is the sort of place where everybody knows everybody, and a few people have came up to me since last weekend and said I did alright. Or did not do alright - all my Dad's pals are Hearts mad so I took a wee bit of stick as well!”

Trying to put last week behind him he turned his attention to Rangers and the claims that after their midweek defeat by Stuttgart in the Champions League it is a good time to come across the SPL champions “As I said last week was very disappointing but the boys just have to pick themselves up and get on with it. Rangers are a big side but we have to give them respect but still hopefully give our own fans something to shout about. I don't think there is any good or bad time to play Rangers, they have a strong side so playing in Europe midweek is not likely to have any effect but we still hope that we can catch them out on Sunday and give them a run for their money.”


Thomson - no good time to play Rangers (sns)

And when asked about the Rangers Midfield he is likely to encounter he had nothing but praise "I like Arteta; I think he has a great touch and awareness but they have good players in every department and we just have to try and get in about them. Arteta I think is enjoying that key central role he has now and has come on to his game as a result - but he will be missing anyway on Sunday and that won't be a disappointment to me! It would have been nice to play against him but I think that the likes of Stephen Hughes will be good to play against as well!”

As Thomson said Rangers have Arteta missing after injuring himself in last week’s defeat of Aberdeen. Meaning he joins the growing list of players on the treatment table at Ibrox including Moore, De Boer, Steven Thompson and Nerlinger to name a few. Meaning Youngster Burke who scored against Hibs at Ibrox is in line to start his first SPL match.

Bobby Williamson meanwhile also has a huge problem with injuries especially on the left hand side of his team, with Roland Edge (knee), Yannick Zambernardi (torn groin) and Stephen Glass (ligament damage) all out injured. Meaning Gary Smith will once again be deployed as an emergency left back. On the right of the defence Bobby may choose to play another youngster Steven Whittaker after the youngster showed great promise in his last few substitute appearances including last weeks match at Tynecastle. Apart from the change at Right back I don’t think we will see any other changes from last week’s team, meaning Scott Brown will remain in the midfield and Riordan and O’Connor deployed in the attack.

All we can hope for is that whatever Bobby does to his team and it’s tactics for the visit of Rangers we show the same spirit and determination that we saw earlier in the season at Ibrox, but this time Hibs running out winners.

My prediction for the match is a 2-2 draw as I can see Hibs scoring but unfortunately I can also see us conceding goals.