Hibs need wins, but ‘small victories’ could be just as important
IT does not take long to pinpoint McDiarmid Park as the venue it all started to wobble.
December 16, Nick Montgomery takes a Hibs team with third place within their grasp up to Perth, only to leave with a bloody nose. It was a chastening afternoon and, little known to the travelling support who witnessed it at the time, a snapshot of things to come.
Only a week prior they had stood in the driving wind and rain at Livingston and serenaded their manager to the tune of Last Christmas, yet that festive feeling had come and gone by the turn of the year as Hibs slipped into a hangover that still hasn’t quite shifted. Montgomery’s team had won four from five prior to visiting Tayside, but that was not apparent in the stilted performance that followed, one punctured – as so many have been – by an individual error.
Absence upon absence in the ensuing weeks did nothing to help recover matters, and that day is probably the last time this term that any Hibs fans seriously contemplated pushing on to become the Premiership’s best of the rest. So, as Montgomery deploys his players for the first time since the “open letter” that made public his absolute need to improve results immediately, it certainly feels a little devilish of Scottish football’s omniscient scriptwriters that this crucial period should begin at the very ground it started to come apart.
The statement’s vagueness over what constitutes sufficient improvement over the next five games has stirred debate, but it feels as though it must go beyond simply accruing a few more points by any means necessary. Even doing that will not be an easy task against a side that nullified his players in their last two meetings, and against a rival coach for whom twisting the knife into Hibs requires no second invitation.
None of that, though, takes away from the fact that St Johnstone are a team who have failed to win 26 of their 33 league matches so far, so no amount of subplots can deter from the reality being that failure to beat them for a third match running would be a damning indictment. Borderline dead rubber or not, Hibs need to start showing they can win these types of matches with a degree of comfort, and that they can produce performances which offer something to build on.
A quintet of 5-0 victories aside, there is little Hibs can realistically do across this final stretch to engineer a complete turnaround in the apathy that has engulfed much of the fan base – and that optimum outcome might leave some with a lingering taste of resentment. But the games must be played regardless, so perhaps the best course for Montgomery and his team is not only to begin racking up some actual victories, but small wins within those that could, at least, sow seeds of hope.
But what might that look like? With Dylan Vente back on the bench for the pre-split draw against Motherwell, it is arguably time to allow the Dutchman to begin making a case for what he can offer moving forward. It’s been a stopstart season for Vente, who displayed initial promise with that satisfyingly efficient run of five goals from five shots on target. It’s acknowledged that he was then hampered by the manager’s need to play him out of position to cover mounting absences, and postJanuary he flitted in and out of the side before being struck with an unfortunate injury.
Considering Hibs made a significant investment to secure his services last summer, the hope must still be that he can be the man to lead the line long-term, and this could be the ideal moment to afford him a run of matches to finally prove what he’s all about. He should, after a period on the outside, be fired up to show the manager and fans what he can do.
With multiple loans ending and several players out of contract, Montgomery could be tempted to focus his efforts on extracting more from players he knows will be around come the start of next season. The midfield, for example, has been chopped and changed regularly, but it would be little surprise to see much more of Nathan Moriah-Welsh and, if fit, Luke Amos between now and season’s end.
Figuring out exactly where Moriah-Welsh is most effective should be a priority. Amos was an intriguing January acquisition, with the club offering a platform to a talented player who had lost his way to a string of fitness problems. Several months following his arrival, though, Hibs fans are still none the wiser as to what he can offer.
Amos has started only once, a 45-minute outing against Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Cup where he looked short of match fitness. That came after a handful of promising cameos, only for an injury sustained in the home win over Dundee to remove him from the picture. It’s been reported this week that Amos is back in contention, so this last quintet of matches could offer the 27-year-old an opportunity to find his way in a Hibs shirt.
As a collective aim, accruing some clean sheets must surely be prominent in Montgomery’s mind. A failure to do so has been incredibly costly, and is arguably the major contributing on-pitch factor in his team’s current predicament. Centreback is an issue Hibs will look to address in the summer but, until then, it’s over to Montgomery to provide evidence that this key weakness is one he can eradicate. Given how the season has panned out to date, it might be wishful thinking, but if Montgomery is to turn this around, it has to begin somewhere.
Results haven’t been anywhere near good enough and must improve, clearly, but laying the groundwork for sustained improvement might just be more important for Montgomery than registering a few scrappy wins to end the campaign.