Hibs to face Wigan in final SPL warm-up

Published on Thursday 15 May 2008 10:27

HIBS will complete their preparations for the start of next season with a friendly against English Premier League side Wigan Athletic at Easter Road.

The Hibees have pencilled in a tie against Steve Bruce's men for Tuesday, August 5 as they finalise plans for the new campaign which starts the following Saturday.

The Latics, who finished 14th in the English top flight this season, will bring a strong side north and Easter Road supporters can look forward to seeing the likes of England internationalist Emile Heskey, Antoine Sibierski and Mario Melchiot in action as their side prepares for the start of the SPL campaign.

The Capital club have yet to finalise the rest of their pre-season schedule, although they will be back in competitive action on July 5 for the start of their InterToto Cup campaign.

Wigan will make the trip to Edinburgh after having warm-up matches against Eintracht Frankfurt, Hannover 96, Barnsley and Sheffield Wednesday. And Hibs boss Mixu Paatelainen believes that the visit of Wigan will give his side the perfect warm-up for the start of SPL action a few days later.

"It's always good to play against Premiership sides as they give you a tough game before the start of the league," said the Hibs manager. "They have plenty of quality players and it will give us a good test. I'm sure it's one the fans will look forward to."

Meanwhile, Paatelainen insisted today that he's desperate to hold on to the club's top young starts for next season but admitted that everyone has their price.

The likes of Steven Fletcher have been linked with a move away from the Leith outfit over the summer but Paatelainen stressed he was keen to keep hold of the Scotland internationalist and his team-mates.

"I will do everything to keep my players but a 10million offer is a difficult offer to turn down," he explained. "That would be up to the chairman to decide but if an offer like that came in we'd have to consider it. I'm not surprised clubs are interested in some of our players but I'm hoping to keep every one of my top players here for next season."

Hibs reserves ended their league campaign with a 3-2 victory over St Mirren at Love Street yesterday. Kurtis Byrne grabbed two goals for the Hibees with David Wotherspoon netting the other against a Saints team who, until recently, had been challenging for the title. Abdessalam Benjelloun also missed a penalty.