BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIAN GLAD TO BE A NUISANCE

NOBODY saw it coming. Well, almost nobody. For the Hibs players who have been working closely under Paul Heckingbottom during a turbulent start to the campaign, there has always been a feeling they were better than results suggested.

Having previously been branded ‘pretty soft’ by manager Heckingbottom himself, they also felt they had a point to prove.

Christian Doidge, the £350,000 summer signing whose failure to launch has been submitted as definitive evidence of the gaffer’s inability to spot a player, had personal reasons for feeling pretty pleased by Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Celtic.

At long last, the former Forest Green Rovers striker feels as if he’s finding his feet in Scotland’s top flight.

And that’s partly because he has stopped trying to keep up with the technicians playing round about him and gone back to his natural game of being a ‘nuisance’ to defenders.

Doidge, who followed up his start in the midweek Betfred Cup quarter-final win at Kilmarnock with an energetic performance in front of an appreciative home crowd, confessed: ‘I think some teams probably thought we were a soft touch at the start of the season.

‘The last two games have proved we’re anything but soft. Obviously, the Kilmarnock game was really tough, 120 minutes before we managed to get through on penalties.

‘Then we were up against Celtic, maybe the best team in Scotland, and that was always going to be a hard game; there’s a lot of money out there on that pitch.

‘It did hurt, being called soft and weak. You never want that thrown at you, as a football team.

‘We train every day, train really hard, so to have that said about you is not nice.

‘We’ve worked really hard to prove ourselves and it showed in the last two games.

‘It was tough up against Celtic’s two central defenders, both 6ft 4ins, 6ft 5ins — and good players with it.

‘My job was to be a nuisance, get hold of the ball and help us get up the pitch. I think I did it all right.

‘I’m just hoping for a run of games, to be honest. When I first came in, I was probably doing things that I wasn’t good at — not the stuff I was brought to the club to do.

‘Now I’m playing to my strengths, doing what I’m good at.

‘It’s all about getting on the same wavelength as your team-mates, as well.

‘They know exactly what I like now and we’re working every day on the training pitch on that. I think I’m coming into my own.

‘It’s 100 per cent about me not trying too hard now. When you play with Scotty Allan and Flo Kamberi at first, they’re very technical players.

‘I’m probably not as technical as those two — but I work really hard for the football club.

‘The harder you work, the luckier you get. That’s always been one of my strengths. I wish I could claim the goal!

‘It was really good play in the build-up, Jacko’s(Adam Jackson) pass and then Scotty Allan playing me in. It was unfortunate for the defender (Kristoffer Ajer) to put it in. But it put us in good stead.’

Less than a week on from a baying mob gathering outside the main door at Easter Road to voice their displeasure with the management, the Hibs fans were united in appreciation — if not quite unadulterated delight — at seeing their team raise themselves against Celtic.

Addressing the swift boost to Heckingbottom’s standing, Doidge (above) said: ‘Of course we’re happy about that.

‘Everyone at the football club likes the gaffer. We like everything he’s doing.

‘He brought me to the club and I think he’s improving me as a player every day on the training pitch. It’s hard to see that, the fans protesting. But we’re a team. We all lose together.

‘It was a bit harsh, him getting all the criticism when the whole team deserved it.

‘But I’ve no doubt we’ll be successful under him.

‘There is nothing in my mind that suggests anything else. I really like him as a manager and really like working for him.’