Jair Tavares insists Hibs will not use their red-tape troubles as an excuse for early-season woes.
The Easter Road side have already suffered an early exit from the Premier Sports Cup after it emerged they’d fielded Rocky Bushiri, despite a suspension in Wednesday’s penalty shoot-out defeat by Morton. It was a disjointed display from Lee Johnson’ s new-look team, which started with four new faces before Tavares was handed his debut as a half-time substitute.
The Portuguese winger, 21, had been forced to wait for his bow because of the same visa problems that delayed Momodou Bojang’s arrival until last week. And, with Marijan Cabraja and Elie Youan still waiting for clearance to play after signing this summer, Johnson’s reign has got off to a difficult start on and off the pitch ahead of their Premiership opener against St Johnstone in eight days’ time. But Tavares, recruited from Benfica on a four-year deal, is adamant Hibs can overcome their teething troubles.
Asked about his own work permit hold-ups, he said: “The wait was a bit frustrating but now I’m in and I’m on. Now I’m here I just want to enjoy every moment I’m on the pitch with my team.
“It doesn’t affect anything. There are more players with quality here, so we have to trust each other and that’s it. We are focused. The weeks we’ve had together were good, we worked well together with effort and the players are focused. We have to forget Wednesday night and think about the next games.
“I’m new here. Scottish football is so different to Portuguese football but I’m here to improve and I’m here to learn. Everyone else is here to learn too. Hibs are a historic club here in Scotland. We have to take that responsibility, we just can’t disappoint the fans.
“We made some key mistakes (against Morton) we can’t make any more because we don’t have time for this. We know we are a good team, we can do better”
With skill and pace, Tavares showed glimpses against Morton of what he could bring to Hibs this season. But those moments were too short-lived to have a meaningful impact and the supporters’ cheers at the former Portugal Under-19 star’s trickery soon turned to jeers at a woeful result.
Tavares added: “My debut was good but not good enough. I don’t think just about me, we are a team, we are a group and that’s how we have to think. It was good to experience Easter Road for the first time. I felt the energy passed down to me from the stands.
“But it wasn’t the most important thing. We didn’t win. We must improve more. We know the mistakes we made, we know the first half wasn’t the best but the season isn’t over and there are a lot of games to play. We have a lot of chances to prove we aren’t that team.”
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