Doidge focus on ups over downs
Low goal tally but all-round performance boosts striker
CHRISTIAN DOIDGE says Hibernian are eyeing the “perfect season” – at the same time as he contemplates one of his worst campaigns in front of goal.
The Welsh striker netted for just the eighth time in 38 appearances, and for the first time in 16 matches, in the Easter Road side’s last outing, against Livingston last month. For someone who scored 18 times in the same number of games last term, it has been a frustrating spell.
Yet, the 28-year-old has been comforted by reassuring conversations with manager Jack Ross and team-mates appreciative of his selfless performances, and has taken solace from the fact Hibs are on target to finish third in the Premiership.
Painful semi-final losses to Hearts in October and St Johnstone in January, following on from the League Cup semi-final defeat to Celtic in 2019, have put a dampener on an otherwise impressive season, but Doidge is convinced they can go one better in the Scottish Cup if they can overcome a significant first hurdle against Queen of the South this evening.
“That would be the perfect season, if we can get third and win the cup,” he said. “But we know it’s not going to be easy, we need to be at the top of our game. It would be great if we could achieve that, but we’ve got to really concentrate now and put together a final push towards the end of the season.
“Losing three semi-finals in a row has obviously been very sore. I played in all three and it’s been very hard to get over. But it gives you fuel for the next one. You remember that feeling, it’s not very nice, and that’s what gets you doing those extra reps in the gym and working extra on the training pitch.
“Hopefully we can go one step further, but we’ve got a big game to get through first. They were extremely frustrating times and hopefully we can go one step further, but we’ve got a lot of
Palmerston
games to get through to get to that point. So, we’ve got to be on the money.”
Doidge scored in that loss to Hearts at the penultimate stage of last season’s Scottish Cup and against Alloa in the Betfred Cup quarter-finals, but is adamant he is satisfied playing a supporting role in the team as long as victories are secured.
“I definitely wasn’t worried because the things the manager was telling me were all positive,” he said. “As a striker, you want to score as many goals as you can but if it’s not going for you, it’s not going for you and that is just something that has happened in my career.
“But I knew that my overall performances were good enough and the lads appreciated that so I was never going into games feeling I shouldn’t be out there. I felt I still fully deserved my spot in the team.
“This is my worst goalscoring season for a long time but, as a team, we have been so high up in the league and that has definitely taken a bit of pressure off me.”
At times this season, the spotlight has instead fallen on
Doidge’s strike partner, Kevin Nisbet. The summer signing from Dunfermline received a dream call-up from Scotland for the recent World Cup qualifiers and made his debut as a secondhalf substitute in the 4-0 victory over the Faroe Islands.
Doidge was thrilled for the 24-year-old.
“He is so young but has scored a hell of a lot of goals for such a young age,” he added.
“To be in his first year in the Scottish Premiership and still get the figures he has [14 goals] is no fluke. He can go as far as he wants to.
“That Scottish call-up is going to give him a bit of a confidence boost. And I’m sure he’s going to be striving to get into that squad in the summer. He knows he’s got to put in the performances for Hibs to warrant that.”