Nish pins success of Hibs on positive environment put in place by Hughes

Published on Friday 4 December 2009 23:12

STRIKERS are often accused of being greedy and as he sits in the players' lounge at Hibernian's training centre, Colin Nish admits to wanting more.

It's not his tally of two goals from six starting appearances so far this season that Nish is talking about, although clearly he is keen to improve in that department.

It is collective rather than individual statistics which have had Nish and his team-mates musing over just how startling their impressive start to life under John Hughes' management, which currently sees them just two points behind SPL leaders Celtic, could have looked.

"When you look at the league table when you are watching Sky Sports News and see how high up we are, you sometimes think to yourselves how much higher we could be," said Nish. "We lost at Hamilton early in the season and dropped other points we could have got. In saying that, we have also got points from games where we haven't played so well. I suppose it evens itself out."

The 28-year-old former Dunfermline and Kilmarnock front man, who hopes to help Hibs extend their nine-match unbeaten SPL run against Motherwell at Easter Road today, believes the transformation in their fortunes is down to the positive atmosphere Hughes has created around their East Mains training centre.

"The spirit is great, everyone gets on and that starts with the manager," said Nish. "If you do something wrong, he makes sure you know about it and tells you how you have to improve. But then he will have a laugh with you afterwards so you are not walking about with a sour face. Everyone is happy. Before the gaffer arrived, there were maybe a few more foreign players and not everyone spoke to each other. Now, there are no wee cliques or anything like that. Sometimes we sit around long after training and mess about together, playing football tennis or spending time in the gym. Everyone really enjoys being here.

"We have got everything we need here at the training centre, so there are no excuses not to improve as players. If the manager asks you to do something and you don't do it, you can't say it's because you don't have the opportunity or the facilities."

Nish scored Hibs' opening goal at Fir Park back in September when they became the first and so far only side to defeat Motherwell in the SPL this season. The 3-1 victory stands out as one of their most impressive performances under Hughes.

"We played really well that day but I thought Motherwell were a good side," added Nish. "If we play like we did the last time, then we should get three points again. But we haven't played like that every week. We have been grinding out results sometimes. Motherwell have done well under their new manager and they have got quite a young team. It should be an excellent game.

"Our unbeaten run is obviously nice, it's probably the longest one I've been involved with in my career, but before a game all you really think about is trying to take the three points. Now, when people look at the league table, they will maybe believe that we are even more of a scalp.

"One thing I noticed straight away after signing for Hibs is how much of a big thing it is for opposing teams to come to Easter Road. A lot of them believe they are underdogs when they play us there and maybe sit behind the ball a wee bit more. We will need to be at our best to win on Saturday."

Meanwhile, Motherwell midfielder Giles Coke is determined his side will atone for that sole SPL defeat.

"Hibs are flying and the last time we played we were very disappointing," the 23-year-old said. "The first half we played all right but the second half we were a bit flat. We've got a lot to prove to ourselves and the fans. If we can put that right, I feel we can get a result."

Motherwell have drawn five of their last six SPL games, including the last three against teams who received red cards.

Last weekend's opponents, Dundee United, were even reduced to nine men but Well lost a late goal to draw 2-2.

"We're not losing so it's not as bad as everyone thinks," the former Northampton midfielder said. "But we don't want to keep drawing. The boys are really disappointed with last weekend, we felt we should have won, so we are looking to go to Hibs and get three points."

Manager Jim Gannon, who recently recalled John Sutton to play with two central strikers, will now look for a happy medium. "At the start of the season we wanted to be tight and tough to beat, have a good shape about us and work hard at set plays," Gannon said.

"We suddenly tightened up and we tried to look at how we were going to score more goals from open play, which means us playing a slightly different system, a bit more expansive."