Midfield trio continue
their recovery
...but young Hibs go down heavily to Aberdeen
HIBS UNDER-21 SIDE where all at sea last night as on a miserable
night at Easter Road, Aberdeen ran out convincing 4-1 winners. Of
much more importance than that result to Bobby Williamson however was
the fact that his injured midfield trio of John O'Neil, Mathias Jack and
Frederic Arpinon all managed to play a part in the game, although it
remains to be seen if any of them have impressed sufficiently to feature
in this weeks CIS Cup match against Rangers or the SPL clash against the
Dons at Pittodrie on Sunday.
Club skipper O'Neil appears to be
closer to a return after playing the entire 90 minutes against the Dons.
Jack however was his usual self, getting involved in a running argument
with the referee that he was never going to win and replaced by Kevin
Nicol, while Arpinon was also substituted with Jay Shields taking over.
In a game that the Hibs second string will likely wish to forget, the
only real stand-out of the night for Hibs was striker Derek Riordan, who
apart form scoring Hibs only goal looked much more like the player who
was on the verge of breaking into the Easter Road first-team last
season. Kevin Nicol though also looked likely to mount a renewed
challenge for a first team place in the view of the hardy band of fans
who turned out on a miserable cold and wet evening in Leith.
Two years apart - Mixu celebrates on
Saturday (left) and two years ago today, he enjoys the moment! (sns)
One player who has already made the
step up is on-loan Sunderland defender Craig James. James had his
first start in the Hibs senior side on Saturday at Firhill, and while
the youngster did not have the best of starts he warmed to the task as
the game went on and will certainly be all the better for the
experience. Now James hopes to hold onto his place when Hibs face
Rangers on Thursday.
"Hopefully I’ve done enough as part of a winning team to convince
Bobby Williamson to pick me again for Thursday’s CIS Cup game,"
James said, adding: "No disrespect to Partick but Claudio Reyna has
told me just how big a club Rangers are and you want to play against the
best in the League."
James's chances
of turning out against Rangers depend very much on the fitness of Janos
Matyus. The Hungarian was counted out of the trip to Firhill after
picking up an injury when Hibs were forced to train indoors for most of
last week, and remains doubtful for the visit of the league leaders.
While James may have had an uncertain start against Thistle, he ended
the game on a high, providing the inch-perfect cross for Mixu
Paatelainen to nod home and seal the points for Hibs. James said:
"I only knew I’d be playing when the boss announced the team,
although I knew Janos Matyus was struggling with an ankle injury it
still came as a pleasant surprise. I was delighted, I’d been
working hard in training and that was my reward. It was great to be
involved in the second goal which killed the game."
James is now
looking for a longer run in the first team, having turned his back on a
possible return to Sunderland when Howard Wilkinson took over as manager
earlier this month. A chat with Bobby Williamson however convinced
the youngster that it would be better to remain at Easter Road for the
remainder of the 1-year loan deal he signed at the start of the season.
He said: "I am happy where I am, I signed for Hibs until the end of
the season on loan and until someone says otherwise I intend to honour
that agreement."
