Celtic and Stoke watch Boyle as influential winger sparks turnaround
Hibs manager Jack Ross expressed the hope Nick Hammond, the Celtic head of football operations, and anyone else watching Martin Boyle had left Easter Road at half-time after the in-demand winger sparked a second-half turnaround in fortunes.
A header from Alex Gogic had given Hamilton a deserved half-time lead but two assists from Boyle saw Hibs overturn this deficit, with Christian Doidge and Paul Hanlon getting the goals. The latter was a superb header from Boyle’s cross with just four minutes left. Doidge tapped in from a yard after Boyle’ s shot came back off a post.
Ross stressed that the influential Boyle is the last player at the club he wants to see leave. He has already allowed striker Oli Shaw to move to Ross County. It’s little wonder the inform Boyle is attracting interest. Michael O’neill, the Stoke
City manager, was also present along with Hammond.
“Did they leave at half-time?” asked Ross hopefully afterwards. “I’ve said before he’s a better player than some people have given him credit for. He’s got a lot more than pace – his intelligence is really good and he contributed towards the two goals.
“At the second one he stood it up rather than flashed it across but it shows he’s a player in a good place. He’s the last person I’d like to lose from this club.
“I’ ve had it with players before – they’re players who get results and you enjoy watching them then people take them off you. But I’m not bothered with others watching him because it means he’s playing well for me.”
Rather than cont em plating losing a forward, Ross revealed he is on the lookout for one following Shaw’s exit.
“I always felt Oli would move this month but I thought it would be on loan then the dynamics moved quickly,” he explained .“That’ s changed things a little bit but I’ve always wanted another striker in the building and we’ll try to do that before the end of January.”
Brian Rice, meanwhile, was left exasperated after a difficult few days. After his admission of gambling offences, with sanctions from the SFA still p ending, the Hamilton boss watched his side leave the stadium with nothing.
He stressed they de served a point at least .“They created chance sand took two of them but I haven’t been as disappointed as I am tonight all season,” he said.