Mowbray nurses his babes for derby test

BARRY ANDERSON

THE bags currently bulging under Tony Mowbray’s eyes could easily have held Craig Levein’s luggage on the return flight from Rotterdam on Thursday night, such is the exhausting nature of the Hibernian manager’s life away from Easter Road.

Mowbray became a father for the first time, aged 40, 11 days ago when his second wife Amber gave birth to baby boy Lucas in Livingston. In between soothing his new son’s cries and disposing of smelly nappies, he has also managed to guide Hibs to fourth place in the SPL prior to yesterday, three points ahead of their Edinburgh rivals going into today's derby.

But if Mowbray wearily shuffles into Tynecastle, straggles down the tunnel and collapses in the dugout just in time for kick-off, forgive him his lack of lustre. For little Lucas is not yet heeding his father’s instructions the way Derek Riordan and Co have done so emphatically this season.

"I’m trying to get him to sleep, but he’s just not having it," volunteered Mowbray on Friday, in between stifling a yawn. "He’s wide awake through the night and then sleeps all day. I was up all night with him, never got my head down till 6.30 this morning, and my alarm goes off at seven. That was it - half an hour."

Mowbray is likely to find himself enlivened, however, by the vehement application of his young side once they get onto the pitch against Hearts. There exists a vibrancy about Hibs this season, their previous stagnant nature under Bobby Williamson lifted and replaced by a modus operandi that is as entertaining as it is effective.

The dynamism of today’s visitors is something Levein has made strenuous efforts to familiarise himself with having sent a spy across the city three times already this season. However Mowbray has seen no need to over-emphasise the strength of his hosts, insisting the Hibs support have already motivated his squad.

"For the guys that follow us, the ones who stop me in the street and tell me why we must win, this game is everything to them," he points out. "They probably sit across from a Jambo at work and will get hell from Monday to Friday next week if we lose.

"As a defender I was always conscious in derby games of not making a mistake that might cost the game, and I’ll stress that to our back four. However, we want to impose our style of play on the game and we’ll go there and attack Hearts.

"We are developing at the moment because we have a group of young players that are bonding. Hearts are the level we’re shooting at as they finished third the last two years, so it’s a test to see where we are."

Mowbray will look, albeit through blood-shot, sleep- deprived eyes, for players in green and white who grow in stature during this afternoon’s match; a sign that his squad have what it takes to reach the level aspired to by their rugged northerner leader.

"These games are character-building," says Mowbray. "I’m looking for those guys who can give everything they’ve got and then find another 5%. I’ll be intrigued to see who can do that."

And if he doesn't find it, Mowbray won’t be throwing his, or Lucas’s, dummy out the pram. "As long as they keep doing what we’re preaching, then that’s fine by me."

One suspects he won’t be too disappointed.

Taken from the Scotsman