Hibs’ manager Terry Butcher says that he is looking forward to seeing Kevin Thomson back in the first team although Saturday’s game against Motherwell has come too early for the Scotland international midfielder who is on his way back after suffering an injury.
Thomson was one of the players who was reported to be on his way out of Easter Road however he remains determined to fight for his place in the team.
Speaking at the weekly press conference ahead of tomorrow’s game, Butcher said: “Kevin’s not quite at the right level yet, but he’s getting there. Tom (Taiwo) is suspended and Robbo (Scott Robertson) and Owain (Tudur Jones) are both injured but Kevin’s getting there and he’s doing well. He played in the East of Scotland game against Burntisland and wanted to play in that game which they won 8-0. He came off and it was pretty comfortable for him. We asked him to train hard this week which he has done. We have games coming up thick and fast so who knows?
“I want him to play in the team and push himself to a level of fitness to play and I’m looking forward to that.”
Butcher admitted that the performance against Dundee United was not good enough and accepts that the fans want to see action rather than words from him and his players.
He continued: “It’s horrible not playing well at Easter Road, it kills you and It affects out whole week. It’s OK speaking about how much we care and how much it hurts us but that is little consolation to the fans who want to see us do well and play well.
“We gave away crap goals, silly goals, poor goals. They (Dundee United) are a side that will cut you open, but they didn’t need to as we shot ourselves in the foot by giving away penalties and being rubbish on the ball. We expect more and we expect better.
“It’s not about what we didn’t do, it’s about what we are going to do as we can’t change what happened last week let’s get on with this week. We have four away games after this, culminating in the Hearts match at the end of March and we want to make sure we do well.”
It now looks to be a straight race between Hibs and St Johnstone to secure the last top six spot, and after tomorrow, Hibs will be on their travels for the next four games although this could be a blessing in disguise at the moment. He said: “With the four away games coming up, perhaps it is easier for Hibs to play away from home. As a manager I used to come to Easter Road and say quieten the crowd in the first 20 minutes and get a goal if you can and then see what they do after that. You would do that at any away ground.”
“If we have any aspirations of the top six then we have to take advantage of the fact we can move level on points with St Johnstone if we win against Motherwell. We want those three points and we want them badly. Hibs have not been in the top six for a long while. Three years for Hibs is a long while, but we have a great opportunity. We have to go to Perth in three weeks time. ”
Butcher revealed that defender Paul Hanlon who was substituted after suffering double vision following a clash of heads against Dundee United is back in training and available for selection. “Paul didn’t train Monday but he wanted to train Tuesday although the doctors were saying that he should really wait until Thursday but Paul is Paul and he just wanted to get back out there. He trained well on Tuesday and he’s fine. We will see how Ryan McGivern is tomorrow when he comes back from international duty. All the other boys, Jason Cummings, Sam Stanton and Danny Handling after their international games.”
Photo by John Preece
http://www.photoboxgallery.com/jlp-photography
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
