Milligan primed to use element of surprise

NEIL LENNON will today face a team ‘transformed’ since his days as Easter Road boss, according to Mark Milligan.

Paul Heckingbottom only had three games in charge to prepare for his first meeting with the triple Treble contenders — a Scottish Cup quarterfinal loss in Lennon’s second game back with Celtic last month.

Hibs host Lennon again today on the back of five unbeaten outings. Midfield enforcer Milligan is impressed they have produced winning football while adjusting to alterations introduced by a new head coach.

And the Aussie looks forward to all that work presenting a different test for Lennon, who is familiar with the personnel but probably not the plan his championselect face today.

‘I think Neil might be surprised by us, as we have done things differently,’ he said. ‘We’ve had a decent time with the new boss and, slowly but surely, we are grasping what he wants and we are transforming as a team.

‘The results are showing that. It is nice to learn a new way of playing and executing it while you are winning. He brings a lot of different ideas the way he coaches and wants to play. It’s been important how the boys are working hard but they’ve also bought into his ideas.

‘It is one thing to sit in a room and talk about the game but another thing to do it on the park.

‘It is a lot different to what we were doing. He’s been in a short time and we haven’t had a pre-season. So we’ve had to do it on the run.

‘We get a lot of instructions but he knows what he wants. And we are clear in what he is looking for. When things aren’t going right, we understand why. He knows he has a good bunch of boys here who are receptive to new things and that makes his life a bit easier.

‘I like the fact I can come into training and keep learning and he’s definitely brought that for me. I’m seeing things that I haven’t seen before.

‘When you get older you want to continue to be challenged and he’s definitely been able to do that on a day-to-day basis. That’s as much physically as it is mentally for me.’