Admiration counts for little as Smith plots downfall

Published on Tuesday 9 February 2010 22:30

GRAEME Smith will tonight try and shut out the man he credits with reviving his career. The Hibs goalkeeper has the highest regard for Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee after spending two years as his number one at Motherwell.

Smith blossomed under McGhee, helping the Fir Park club to a third place SPL finish in 2008, an achievement the Scotland B international 'keeper now hopes to emulate with Hibs who seek to maintain their impressive recent form against Aberdeen at Easter Road this evening.

"I left Rangers in 2005 to get first-team football and my first season at Motherwell couldn't have gone better," recalled Smith. "Then I had a dip, a period where it didn't go well, before Mark McGhee came in 2007 and freshened things up.

"When he first came in, he openly told me he was going to bring another 'keeper in, but for the two years he was there he only had me. He was quite happy to go with loan signings as cover. I think I only missed three games under him. He was brilliant. He is a very clever man, a very good manager and a good person as well."

Since his arrival from Brighton at the start of January, Smith has settled impressively in a Hibs side which boasts the second-best defensive record in the SPL behind champions Rangers.

"If a team is attacking for most of the game, as ours generally is, that helps as well," said the 26-year-old. "So it is a statistic that also shows how hard the players from middle to front are working. That helps the defence.

"It's about small steps at a time. The manager has a plan in his head and is trying to achieve it along with the players and every member of staff at the club. He wants to build a squad that can achieve things in the league and cups and I think he is doing that.

"Look at our strikers. The ones who did not start the game for us on Saturday would have played for near enough every other SPL team. It shows you how strong a squad we have."