McBride knows his place and he aims to keep it at Hibs

Published on Friday 27 November 2009 08:41

HIBS star Kevin McBride today revealed he has four very good reasons to win his race against time to shake off the ankle injury which limited him to just 17 minutes of action against St Mirren.

Not only is the midfielder desperate to face his old club Falkirk and help stretch Hibs' unbeaten SPL run to nine matches, he's anxious to maintain his own personal record of being the only member of John Hughes' squad to have started every match so far this season.

And then there is the small matter of losing his place in the middle of the park where competition for places is so strong that both John Rankin and Patrick Cregg have been reduced to the role of spectator for much of the recent past.

Whether he does so, alas, remains very much in the balance with Hughes today describing McBride's position as "touch and go" while insisting the former Celtic and Motherwell player, who has played such an influential role since his arrival at Easter Road in the summer, will be given every chance to prove his fitness.

Although the injury is to the same ankle, the right, as was damaged by the lunge from Chris Maguire which earned the Aberdeen youngster a straight red card and put McBride's place in his first Edinburgh derby in jeopardy, it is, the player revealed, a different problem altogether.

But, just as he won his fitness battle ahead of the Tynecastle clash, McBride today remained hopeful he can do so again as Hibs aim to take full advantage of two successive home games with Motherwell visiting Edinburgh next weekend.

He said: "Every player wants to play every game, particularly when the team is doing so well. I've been delighted to play in every match since the start of the season and I've seen what's happened to Patrick and John in recent weeks.

"The competition for places in our midfield is very tough and you know that, if you go out of the team for one reason or another, you might have to wait a while to get back in if the boys continue to do well.

"I've been lucky in that I haven't really missed a lot of games through injury. I did my cruciate ligament at Motherwell and took almost a year to come back from that which was very tough but since then, touch wood, I've not had any lengthy spells out."

Successive away draws at Ibrox, Tynecastle and St Mirren Park, punctuated by that home win over the Dons, have helped Hibs retain third place in the SPL table although they have been joined on the 22-point mark by Dundee United and, according to McBride, it's vital Hughes' players record a victory tomorrow although, he admitted, it won't be easy against a rejuvenated Falkirk side.

Eddie May's team looked in danger of being cast adrift as they struggled to win but an impressive 3-3 draw at home to Celtic followed by a 2-0 triumph over Hamilton has hauled the Bairns to within a point not only of Accies but Kilmarnock, with Hearts just one point better off.

And that, declared McBride, will have given his old club renewed impetus. He said: "Rather than having become detached, they now have other clubs very much in their sights.

"I'm still friendly with a few of the boys at Falkirk and they appear quite confident at the moment, they've closed the gap on the clubs above them and they've got others to aim at. Pedro Moutinho and Vitor Lima have come back into Falkirk and Lee Bullen has had a big impact. It looked as if his playing career was over as he became reserve coach but, perhaps because they were struggling a bit, they felt they needed to bring someone like him back in.

"He's a great character and like Jackie McNamara who, unfortunately, is out injured at the moment, he brings lots of experience to what is quite a young side.

"But just like Falkirk we've also got the teams above us in the League (Celtic and Rangers] as our targets. We are looking to try to catch them. As we have seen all season, teams are going to drop points and with Rangers going to Aberdeen and Dundee United at Motherwell, who aren't too far behind us, tomorrow that will be the case again.

"So we have to look to take advantage of that so, to me, that makes tomorrow a very important game, a must win game. I don't think a point is good enough, you have to be looking to win every game but especially at home.

"We've got back-to-back matches here at Easter Road and we have to be looking to capitalise. We've got a pretty decent home record and we have to try to make it even better.

"However, no-one should be thinking that just because Falkirk are bottom we can just go out and expect the three points, nothing could be further from the truth. We found it hard through there at the start of the season, they went ahead and we were lucky big Sol Bamba equalised at just the right time before two pieces of magic from Derek Riordan won it for us."

Forced to watch the majority of last weekend's game in Paisley from the sidelines after being crocked in a challenge with former Bairns team-mate Jack Ross, McBride admitted Hughes' side were far from their best but, he insisted, even so the signs are highly promising.

He said: "We've got a good defensive record. Playing against Hibs last season I think you always felt you had a chance of scoring a goal but now we are very hard to beat. We've only conceded nine goals in 12 league matches which is very good considering we haven't had a set back four. There's been different players in there and in different positions but we are also defending really well from the front.

"And if the opposition are getting few chances to score we have players who can conjure up a goal out of nothing as we saw from Derek last weekend. I'm not just singling him out, we have five or six players capable of doings exactly the same thing no matter who we are playing."

While it's common knowledge McBride didn't enjoy the best of relationships with the Falkirk support for whatever reason, he admits he's loving life at Easter Road where, he believes, the Hibs fans appreciate the role he plays within the team.

He said: "I've said often enough before I don't have the most glamorous of jobs, my task is to play as the holding midfielder, to protect the back four, win the ball and give it to others.

"I'm quite happy to see them grab the headlines. I think the Hibs fans recognise the part I play, knowing that there are others who can go and win the game for us. They've been behind me since day one, they've been very supportive of me and I appreciate it very much."