One Heck of a turnaround at Easter Road

Performance review star man

It looked like Hibs’ season was dying on the vine under Paul Heckingbottom.

But Jack Ross’ arrival has seen green shoots of hope emerge at Easter Road.

It’s not that things have been as uniformly positive under Ross as they were relentlessly frustrating in the latter days of Heckingbottom’s reign.

It’s more that when things have gone well under the new man, Hibs have looked very, very good.

By contrast, when “Hecky” was at the wheel this season, they looked painfully soft from front to back.

That’s a huge part of the reason the Hibs hierarchy swing the axe in early November, with the club languishing in 10th place.

They had taken just nine points from the first available 33 of the campaign, and crashed out of the Betfred Cup after a 5-2 defeat to Celtic. Heckingbottom’s summer signings – with the exception of Scott Allan, who signed a pre-contract agreement while Neil Lennon was still in charge at Easter Road – looked questionable at best.

Established stars like Florian Kamberi and Stevie Mallan were misfiring, while defensive stalwart Paul Hanlon, without a regular partner, was wobbling badly.

With confidence low, gushing early talk from players of Heckingbottom’s impressive attention to detail began to lose its sparkle, leaving only questions about what had happened between his initial red-hot run as gaffer and its ultimately terminal decline.

Enter Jack Ross – and finally the suggestion of some answers for concerned Hibs fans.

They weren’t offered in the media, through soundbites and polished PR presentation, though Ross is certainly impressive on that front.

Instead, his Hibs side started to do their talking on the pitch beginning, to be fair, even before he arrived when caretaker Eddie May led them to a resounding and deserved 4-1 win over St Johnstone.

Wins over Motherwell, St Mirren, Aberdeen and Hearts have followed, showcasing a side finding new life as a free-flowing, attacking machine.

Building on Ross’ early work while nurturing their new identity will be the priority going forward.

Scott Allan has been surpassed in recent weeks on the headline-grabbing front by Martin Boyle, but Allan remains the beating heart of Hibs.