It’s been a strong week or so on the pitch for Hibernian. A convincing 3-0 victory over St Mirren at Easter Road for the men’s first team was sandwiched between two impressive wins for Steve Kean’s U19 side in the UEFA Youth League.
At Easter Road last Tuesday the wee Hibees put in an excellent second half performance against Nantes to secure a 1-0 lead going into the return tie in France.
Strong shifts from midfielder and skipper Murray Aiken, forward Ethan Laidlaw and central defender Kanayo Megwa gave the side the platform to perform and despite an evenly matched first 45, Hibs stretched their legs and could have won more comfortably by full time.
With Easter Road once again the venue for the European night under the lights, more than 2000 fans filed into the East and Famous Five stands to cheer the young lads on.
Block Seven were situated directly behind the goal in the Famous Five Lower following their debut there in the last round – in what felt like another dry-run at housing the singing section there full time – and it was another success with the available tickets snapped up and the sound and colour positively adding to the atmosphere inside the stadium.
An Ethan Laidlaw penalty was enough to guide the side to victory ahead of the second leg, with an exciting home tie in the play-off round the prize for progression.
On Saturday attentions turned to the first team, with Stephen Robinson’s St Mirren the visitors to Easter Road. With three defeats on the bounce, it was an important fixture for Lee Johnson and the squad as the club looks to finish strongly ahead of the World Cup break.
With Kyle Magennis missing through suspension, Ewan Henderson came back into the side for his first start since Kilmarnock came to Leith on 3rd September in what was the only change from the 2-1 home defeat to St Johnstone.
We created lots of chances once again but it took until first half stoppage time for Hibs to take the lead. Following some deliberation, VAR aided the award of a penalty which Martin Boyle converted without hesitation.
Second half goals from Mykola Kukharevych and Ewan Henderson ensured all three points were staying at Easter Road and the Hibees moved back into third place in the Premiership table.
Rocky Bushiri was awarded man of the match for the second week in a row and the big Belgian put in a strong performance in the middle of a back three alongside Ryan Porteous and Paul Hanlon.
At the other end of the pitch, our Ukrainian target man showed all of his best qualities in his 79-minute appearance. Kukhareych linked play well throughout the game and he displayed strength and composure to wrestle the ball back from Alex Gogic before finishing coolly beyond Trevor Carson to score his second goal for the club.
Other positives included David Marshall making a couple of strong saves when required on a relatively quiet afternoon and the impact of substitute Elias Melkersen who continues to work his way back into the fold following a spell out with injury.
Back to the young team and Wednesday night saw the return leg of their UEFA Youth League tie in Nantes.
With the group stages concluded in the Champions League path earlier in the day, Hibs knew a draw would be good enough to tee up a one-off home draw against Ajax, Porto, Inter, Frankfurt, Salzburg, Shakhtar, Dortmund or Juventus for a place in the play-off round.
An early Nantes goal put a spanner in the works but the wee Hibees rallied and Josh O’Connor fired them level just five minutes later. A Rudi Molotnikov goal just after half time proved to be enough to get Steve Kean’s side over the line and book a place in the next round, setting up a meeting with one of the big boys.
One negative from the evening was a late second-yellow for captain Murray Aiken who put in strong showings across all four qualifying ties, ruling him out for the next round.
The draw for the play-off round takes place on Tuesday 8th November, with the tie to be played in Edinburgh in February 2023.
To round off the 10-day period of positivity, Lee Johnson’s first team squad travel north to face Aberdeen at Pittodrie this evening. Kyle Magennis will return to the fold following his one match ban but with such a strong showing last weekend it wouldn’t be surprising to see Johnson go with an unchanged midfield.
Martin Boyle was forced off with a knock against St Mirren and has since been to see a specialist following a scan of his knee. The news appears to be relatively positive, with initial fears that Boyle might have been ruled out of the World Cup with Australia eased after the feedback from the medics.
With only three games to go until the break, and a number of alternative forward options at the club’s disposal, it would make sense for Boyle to be used sparingly ahead of his big trip to Qatar.
Over 1400 Hibees will back the boys in the north-east tonight, with a positive reaction to the next instalment of the Friday night football experiment in the top flight.
With Jim Goodwin still in the stands as punishment for his nonsense interview after the last meeting between the two teams it’s sure to be an interesting encounter, with both sides eyeing a third place finish this term.
With clubs outside of the Old Firm beating each other every week, a good run of results against teams around you could go a long way to establishing a lead in third place – three points tonight would be another step in the right direction.
Here’s hoping Jim is as seething from his seat in the main stand as he was last time we played his team, with the result going the same way again tonight.
Buckle up folks. Pack your warmest coat and your seagull repellant. We’re off to Aberdeen.
The East Stand 