Hibs star Eoin Doyle says victory over Celtic will have Hearts running scared for New Year derby

Colin Duncan

THE Irishman reckons that the Leith outfit's stupendous home win against the Glasgow Goliaths will have their city rivals anxious.
Leigh Griffiths celebrates his winning goal Leigh Griffiths celebrates his winning goal

EOIN DOYLE reckons Hibs’ stunning victory over Celtic will have Hearts shaking with nerves ahead of this week’s New Year derby showdown.

The Leith outfit produced their most determined display of the campaign to see out 2012 in style with a 1-0 win over the SPL leaders on Saturday.

It was their first triumph over Celtic at home for four years and manager Pat Fenlon hailed it the biggest win since he arrived at the club 13 months ago.

Fellow Irishman Doyle agreed and feels it was the perfect pick-me-up ahead of Thursday’s crunch trip to
Tynecastle.

Hibs had taken just four points from the previous 21 available before ending their dire run of results in spectacular and unexpected fashion.

Doyle is now hoping the victory will provide the Easter Road dressing room with the inspiration required to see off their bitter rivals from across the city.

He said: “The lack of consistency is disappointing but we were going through a rough patch at the start of the season and then drew 2-2 at Parkhead. That was the start of a great run for us.

“Hopefully this will inspire us again to go on a result like that.
Hibs 1 Celtic 0: Leigh Griffith strike gets Hibees back to winning ways after County defeat

“I didn’t think we deserved to lose against Ross County on Boxing Day – they had a chance and took it while I had a couple of efforts and they didn’t go in.

“It was just one of those games and I hope that we’ve now turned it around with the win against Celtic.

“We’re a good team – Celtic are a cut above but everyone else is on pretty much the same level.

“After winning this it will put us in a good frame of mind for Thursday and I’m sure Hearts will be a bit nervous about it.

“It’s a derby game and these are the ones you want to win.

“Motivation doesn’t come into and I’m sure we can put in another good performance.”

The margin of Hibs’ victory could have been more comfortable had Doyle not squandered two gilt-edged chances to put the game to bed in the first half. The hitman failed to seriously trouble Fraser Forster with a free header from inside the six-yard box just after Leigh Griffiths had opened the scoring and then blazed over when clean through just before the break.

Leigh Griffiths scores for Hibs Leigh Griffiths scores for Hibs

But while he feared he had blown the chance of a rare win over Celtic the striker is confident he won’t be so wasteful if the same opportunities arise at Tynecastle.

He said: “It did cross my mind after my missed header that it might be costly.

“The ball hit my face, rolled down on to my chest and then into the keeper’s hands.

“I’m confident if I get the same chance again I’ll make sure I put it in the net.

“The result is the main thing and I’d be more disappointed if I wasn’t getting the chances. I could have scored two or three.

“If I wasn’t getting opportunities I’d be a worried man but the fact we held on to the result is a big positive.

“The last few games have been disappointing but we showed a bit of fire against Celtic. We were compact and showed good desire to see the result out.

“I’ve been in reasonably good scoring form in the last few weeks so I want that to start up again.

“I’m sure we can put in the same performance and get the same result on Thursday.”

Doyle is also hoping the Hibees’ morale-boosting win will help silence the critics who have been on their back for the past couple of months.

Even the home support, still scarred by last season’s battle to avoid the drop, had started to vent their anger.

A chorus of boos rang out as the players walked off the pitch following the Boxing Day defeat to a Ross County side who had failed to win any of their previous 10 games.

Doyle said: “I don’t listen to them anyway. We know we’re capable of finishing in a high position.

“Maybe the last few games on television have been ugly – some of them maybe looked like a rugby match at times.

“But the Celtic game was a good one for any neutral at the ground and we move on to Hearts.

“This win is a good positive and another victory is what we’re looking to achieve on Thursday.

“When we went on a run the crowd were behind us and they were great again against Celtic. Hopefully we can kick on from here.”

Griffiths is arguably the key to whether Hibs, currently three points behind second-placed Inverness, can maintain their push to finish best of the rest behind Celtic.

The little forward, on loan from Wolves, went back to the top of the SPL scoring charts at the weekend with his 14th of the campaign.

Wolves have made it clear he doesn’t have a future at Molineux and are willing to make the switch permanent providing Hibs meet their £150,000 asking price.

Doyle added: “He’s a big asset to us and so sharp. His goal against Celtic was great – I don’t think he even needed to look up, he knew where the goal was and just slotted it in.

“I was hoping he might shank it as I was at the back post and could have stuck it in! He’s great for us and hopefully the club get something sorted.”

Taken from the Daily Record