Clumsy capital boss Lee Johnson put Jake Doyle-Hayes out of action for the best part of four months after joining in with his Hibs squad on the training field. But the Irish midfielder is just relieved his gaffer has put him straight back into his team after finally returning to full fitness.
Johnson has decided it’s better he hang up his boots for good after his training ground challenge on the former St Mirren ace inflamed a pre-existing injury. The 24-year-old admits he had no idea he’d likely been playing for weeks with a bit of chipped bone floating about his ankle until copping a sore one from his manager.
He was forced to go under the surgeon’s knife to have the issue repaired before making a couple of abortive comeback attempts. It wasn’t until last month’s clash at Celtic Park that the Leith star was able to reclaim his starting slot.
His boss may now have rethought his involvement on the practice pitches but Doyle-Hayes is just glad Johnson’s had no second thoughts about his own role. Recalling the incident, the former Aston Villa trainee said sheepishly: “There was a bit of a coming together in training with the manager but it happens and it could have been any of the lads!
“It was a tackle, a 50-50 and nobody holds back in training so it wasn’t an issue. That’s how it happened, we don’t hold back because we train with intensity.
“The gaffer doesn’t join in a lot - I don’t think he has joined in since! He apologised, said it was an accident but I knew that anyway. It was nobody’s fault, he didn’t mean it and that’s the way we train.
“It could have been any of the lads. I didn’t really know I had the injury, when I got the scan they said it could have been an old injury that was there for a while.
“The doctors think it had been there anyway, the injury was there and the tackle flared it up. I had been carrying it for a while, they reckoned.
“I’m just looking to get my season started now, really, even though there are not many games left. It’s strange coming back into the team at this stage, but you just have to do everything you can to get up to speed.
“I feel fit now, I have played in bounce games and played against Celtic. I felt good and fit after that.
“Hopefully I can keep my place now. There are more big games coming up, we want to get enough points to get us into the European places.
“With the squad we have we believe we can kick on further this season. That means picking up wins in games like this weekend, hopefully we can pick up the momentum we had before the Celtic and Rangers games.”
Johnson’s team mounted an impressive recovery from January’s Edinburgh derby defeat, rattling off five games without defeat before that mini-resurgence was halted by back-to-back losses against the Old Firm. However, with their city rivals just four points in front in the race for third, Doyle-Hayes believes his side are gearing up for a big push as the Premiership final straight comes into view.
He said: “We talked about Europe being one of our goals at the start of the season. Not getting there last year was a disappointment for us so we want to do it this time around.
“All we can do is focus on ourselves and try to win as many games as possible, there’s no point looking at the other teams around us.”
Had things panned out differently in January, Doyle-Hayes might have found himself playing for Duncan Ferguson at Forrest Green Rovers. The English League One strugglers - at that point managed by Ian Burchnall - had a bid for the midfielder accepted by Hibs.
But new dad Doyle-Hayes wasn’t ready to uproot partner Aurelija and their five-month old son Arlo. “It was good to hear the gaffer saying he wanted to keep me,” he said. “I didn’t want to leave, I want to play for this club and try to get my place back in the team.
“Once I do that, I want to hold on to my shirt. I feel settled here, we have a young family and are settled in the city.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling being a dad for the first time, it’s great having them in the stands - it gives you extra motivation. I am hands-on, well I try to be as much as I can, although my missus is great and does most of the work.
“My son is called Arlo, he’s five months and we just got him his first Hibs shirt recently. I love playing at Easter Road and want to make a real impact here.”
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