Tony calls for squad to put on shooting boots

DAVID HARDIE

HIBS boss Tony Mowbray today called on his Easter Road stars to take the strain off strikers Garry O’Connor and Derek Riordan by getting themselves among the goals.

O’Connor and Riordan have formed one of the most potent strikeforces in the SPL this season with 14 goals between them - but now Mowbray wants to see other names appearing more regularly on Hibs’ scoresheet.

Riordan took his tally for the season to six with a stunning last-minute strike against Hearts at Tynecastle although it wasn’t enough to prevent Craig Levein’s side ending Hibs’ run of eight games without defeat with goals from Patrick Kisnorbo and Joe Hamill.

But despite that defeat Hibs remain ahead of their arch-rivals in the SPL table, both sides locked on 15 points after ten games with the Leith side placed fourth thanks to the 16 goals scored compared to Hearts’ mere seven. While content in the knowledge he can usually depend on either O’Connor or Riordan to score in any match - Hibs haven’t failed to find the net since the opening day of the season against Kilmarnock - Mowbray doesn’t want his players to become over-reliant on the free-scoring pairing.

He said: "We need some of the other players to chip win with some goals.

"Dean Shiels has scored a couple this season and had a chance at Tynecastle but with the goalkeeper coming out he put the ball onto the roof of the net rather than in to it.

"Guillaume Beuzelin shows us in training every day that he is capable of scoring, he has the talent and the technique.

"Steven Fletcher scored last week in the match against Dundee United which was good as he is a centre-forward playing out of position. So I’d like to think that we can get more of a goal threat from some other areas."

Although the goals scored by O’Connor and Riordan undoubtedly has them marked down by the opposition as the greatest danger, Mowbray believes both have the ability to overcome the close attention of defenders to continue finding the net.

But if the pair are being tightly marked he feels that others should be ready to take advantage.

He said: "Sometimes keeping Garry and Derek quiet is easier said than done. You can concentrate on trying to stop individuals playing but with Garry’s assets he can give a lot of players problems while Derek can score a goal out of nothing as we saw yesterday.

"If teams want to focus on these two then it would be nice to have more of a goal threat from other areas of the pitch. If Garry and Derek are tightly marked we need to get people from midfield breaking into the spaces created."

Despite yesterday’s defeat - Hibs first since going down to Rangers at Ibrox on August 21 - Mowbray remained totally upbeat, claiming Hibs League position wasn’t "too unhealthy."

He said: "We are still sitting fourth which we would probably have taken at the start of the season, 15 points from ten games with what is still a developing team."

And Mowbray backed his youngsters to bounce back from their disappointment in Wednesday night’s match against Livingston at Easter Road. He said: "We have lost a game but I will be looking for them to be extra determined to make sure we get a positive result. We have shown we can do it. Earlier in the season we bounced back very strongly after being beaten at Ibrox and as far as I am concerned Wednesday night cannot come quickly enough."

Taken from the Scotsman