Aiden McGeady is ready to face Rangers after making his first Hibs appearance for almost five months in Thursday's 1-0 friendly win over Raith Rovers.
The summer signing hadn’t featured since picking up a knee ligament injury in July, but made a 30-minute cameo against the Championship side at a frosty Easter Road. Josh Campbell’s early goal was the difference as Hibs warmed up for Thursday’s return to action at Ibrox. And boss Lee Johnson was delighted to see McGeady get minutes into the legs along with Kevin Nisbet, Harry McKirdy and Kyle Magennis who have all had their own injury setbacks to contend with.
Johnson said: “We need our best players fit and the maximum number of options available. Going into the Rangers game, we’ve certainly got minutes in these players. Whether we’ve got 96 minutes is another story because of their history, but at the same time if we can make them sharp for 45 to 60 minutes, then that leaves us with options. That will help us play the way that we want to play for as long as possible.”
Nisbet’s return from an ACL injury is a positive but the loss of Martin Boyle to the same knee issue is a huge blow as Hibs look to bounce back from a run of six defeats in their last seven games. Johnson said: “Obviously Martin is going to be out, so we’re trying to find a solution to that position.
“We’ve worked a lot on the psychology of the players, which was evident against Raith. We got a clean sheet, which was good and that breeds confidence. The preparation we put in, in terms of our off the ball work, showed today and was part of us keeping a clean sheet, which was the focus of the day.”
Johnson reckons the World Cup break arrived at a good time for his injury-hit side as he mapped out the long-term plan for success. He told the Hibs website: “As a staff we’ve been working extremely hard, I include the back of house on the football side, which is recruitment, player care, operations and the physio team.
“For me, I was able to take a step back. I’ve been in the job five or six months now. So I was able to look at what we did well, what we haven’t done well, where we’ve been unlucky, and where we should’ve been better.
“We’ve done a lot of work behind-the-scenes to make us quicker and slicker, so that every decision we make is from a position of strength.
“There’s an organisation throughout the club based on how we want to play and how the fans want to see us. It will take time, but I am very confident about the work that’s gone in. The longer time we can get together as a working team, both on and off the pitch, then that brings and breeds success.”
Soon-to-depart defender Ryan Porteous came on at half-time as a replacement for Manchester United loanee Will Fish, who is hoping to force his way into Johnson’s plans in the second half of the campaign.
Fish said: “It was good to get game time. I’ve not had a lot in the last few months. We have been working on stuff in training, the high press and we did it well at times. We won the game, so it went well.
“These games are massive. We have had a few weeks off, even that short space of time, you can lose that match fitness and sharpness. These games have been good and we can work on things we have done in training and play against opposition to see how we go.
“I want to play as many games as possible and help the team get up the table. I want to do that to the best of my ability and show the gaffer what sort of stuff I can do.”
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