It’s good to be back: Hibs to name Allan in squad for Hampden
Scott Allan is poised to make a welcome return to the Hibernian squad for tomorrow’s Betfred Cup semi-final at Hampden. Allan has been sidelined by a private illness for most of this season, featuring in only the first five matches of the Premiership campaign. The 29-year-old midfielder’s last appearance came on 30 August, against Aberdeen.
But, ahead of the clash with St Johnstone, manager Jack Ross has revealed the fans’ favourite, who is in his third spell with Hibs, could play a part at the national stadium.
“Yeah, he'll be in the squad but it's been difficult,” said Ross. “The plan was for him to be involved in bounce matches over the last week or two and for a variety of reasons, particularly with the weather as well, that's not been possible. So we've tailored a little bit of our training over the past week to try and accommodate some of his needs as well, in terms of boxes he would need to tick. So we're pretty much there with him.
"It’s good to have him back.”
Even as the season got underway, Hibs manager Jack Ross had the feeling that his squad were capable of delivering on his desire for success. Nothing he has seen since has convinced him otherwise.
While results and performances have occasionally ruffled the nerves of some on the outside looking in, the Hibs boss has remained relentlessly unflappable.
Tethered by a sense of realism and strong relationships with his players, when isolated displays have disappointed him, he has always, he says, got the correct response from the men in his charge, who sit third in the Premiership and are now gearing up for their second cup semi-final since returning from lockdown.
"When I came to the club initially, I didn't want to tread water and just bob about. I wanted to try to bring success to the club and I don't think it is unrealistic for Hibs to be seen to be challenging to win cups every single year,” said Ross ahead of tomorrow’s Betfred Cup semi-final against St Johnstone at Hampden.
"We might not do that, but we should always go into a season believing that we can. I felt we had begun to put together a squad that was capable of doing that. I think it felt realistic to push the players towards that and there has been nothing through the course of the season that has changed my mind in that respect."
There have been blips - only natural, says Ross, who knows teams rarely negotiate an entire season without blemcup.
ish - including the agonising Scottish Cup semi-final defeat they experienced at the hands of capital rivals Hearts in their most recent visit to the national stadium. But those dips in form did not dilute Ross’ belief in the ability of his players or persuade him to lessen his expectations for the season.
"I think it's about achieving success. I don't think any of them are thinking about righting a wrong from a previous [semi-final] defeat. I think it's
about them wanting to win something,” said Ross.
"We've got players who have won trophies, but I've got someone like Jamie Murphy who has had a brilliant career but not won anything. He's won a promotion but hasn't won a medal, so that drive and hunger, that goes through the players, to win something is there. The disappointment and pain we felt after that semi was because we believed we could have gone on to win the
Now we have an opportunity relatively quickly to try to do that again. You don't always get that opportunity so quickly but we have put ourselves right in the mix again and there is a determination to go that one step further and hopefully two steps further."
As a player and a manager, Ross has also suffered near misses but he says the hope of going all the way and realising the dream should always outweigh the risk of further heartache.
“When you get closer to success, you want to get that step further, you want to win trophies,” he said. “It is the most enjoyable part of this job; that opportunity to have tangible success.”
•Jack Ross was speaking to promote Premier Sports’ live and exclusive coverage of the Betfred Cup match Hibernian v St Johnstone on Saturday from 5pm. Premier Sports is available on Sky, Virgin TV and the Premier Player.