Johansson relished his return to action

Published on Monday 5 January 2009 22:22

HIBERNIAN debutant Jonatan Johansson is confident his fitness and goal touch will return quickly after coming through his first game in three months in Saturday's 0-0 league draw at Tynecastle.

Johansson hopes to retain his place in Mixu Paatelainen's side when they clash again with Hearts in the Homecoming Scottish Cup at Easter Road on Sunday, and assured Hibs fans that he has a lot of improvement still to come.

"The game started at a high pace and it remained at that for the entire 90 minutes," said the Finnish forward, who was deployed as a wide man and lasted the entire game.

"I have enjoyed being back in Scotland for the past few weeks, but it was games that I had been missing.

"It was good to get the full match and I felt all right, but I was cramping a little bit towards the end so I stayed back in position and did not attack too much, but otherwise I felt OK. I have had three weeks of training but my match fitness is a little bit lacking and hopefully that will return soon."

In an interview with Hibs' official website, he added: "It was good to get a full match under my belt and that will help me to get my match sharpness back. Hopefully I will be among the goals as well.

"In football nowadays there is a big squad at every team, but I hope to play as much as possible.

"That said, Mixu will pick the 11 that are most suitable for the game. But I want to play as many games as possible."

&#149 Craig Thomson will referee the Hibs versus Hearts fourth round clash at Easter Road. The game kicks off at 12:15pm and is live on Sky Sports.

Calum Murray is the referee for the Celtic's home tie against Dundee, with Steve Conroy in charge of the Ayrshire derby at Somerset Park between Ayr United and Kilmarnock.