White-hot Anthony Stokes' net gains

Published on Saturday 26 December 2009 20:14

THERE WAS a point early in Hibs' second-half display against Aberdeen last weekend when manager John Hughes sent a message on to the pitch.

Apparently he wasn't too pleased with Anthony Stokes' contribution. "I actually shouted on that I was going to fill him in, and almost straight away he stuck the ball in the back of the net with that big Stokesy smile," says the Hibs manager, laughing. "That's the rapport and partnership we've got."

Whatever it is that makes things click, it is undoubtedly a relationship which works.

During their stint together at Falkirk, the Republic of Ireland international was at his most prolific, netting 16 times in 18 league appearances during a profitable loan spell from Arsenal. A lean and changeable time followed when they parted ways and Stokes tried to assert himself at Sunderland, Sheffield United and Crystal Palace. That scoring drought extended into his first three games after he joined Hibs in August. But Hughes stuck by him and the goals returned in fits and starts, initially, before the recent spate of five in three games.

"When you join a new club I think its hard for things just to fall into place the first day you walk in. It took a few weeks but the main thing for me is that the gaffer has always stood by me and put me in even at the start when things weren't exactly clicking. He started me in every game and it was a case of letting me get my confidence up and building on my fitness and sharpness. Maybe at one or two of the other clubs I didn't get that and I was in and out of teams, missing six or seven games in a row without playing or getting game time. That's why I'm delighted to be back up here and delighted to be playing every week and hopefully I can keep repaying him with goals."

Although Hughes is a completely different character from the quieter, more cerebral Arsene Wenger with whom Stokes worked as he progressed from the Arsenal youth academy to train with the first-team squad, alongside the likes of Thierry Henry and the latest wunderkind, Nicklas Bendtner, the Irishman says that while the personalities may jar, there are serious similarities when it comes to their football philosophies. Both want football but both demand hard graft.

Hughes also kept faith in Stokes when he was caught up in negative stories about a nightclub fracas shortly after his arrival in Edinburgh. The 21-year-old insists the coverage was blown out of proportion and maintains his innocence. He says it was a case of wrong place, wrong time and while there was an altercation while he was in the venue, he was not a protagonist and left immediately.

"I wasn't particularly worried about facing the gaffer because I had gone out after a game and nothing really happened. I was in the place five minutes and I left afterwards because of what they said had happened in the paper but I wasn't involved in it. But there wasn't a problem at all with the gaffer. We have a good relationship and if I was in the wrong I would just have been honest with him because the thing about the gaffer is that if you are honest with him he will help you as much as he can but I think if you are dishonest with him, well, let's just say I don't think that's the way to go!

"He was a bit annoyed at the start because it was all over the papers but I think when I explained the situation to him and he spoke to the owners of the club and the bouncers and they explained that nothing had happened with me, he knew himself within a few hours of seeing the papers – but that's because he took the trouble to make a few calls and that was the end of it."

The end but also the beginning, as he repaid his manager with two goals in his next match, to help the Leith side to a 3-0 victory over St Johnstone and set them on their way in what has now become a 12-game unbeaten run in the league. It is a string of results that have allowed them to stay on the shoulders of both Celtic and Rangers and inflamed the belief that they could succeed in at least splitting the Old Firm this term.

This afternoon they take on Rangers at Easter Road, aware that victory would take them to within two points of the league leaders. But while Dundee United were left crushed by Walter Smith's men when they tried to exert some authority on the title race a couple of weeks ago, prompting reporters and pundits to write off their lasting challenge, Stokes says defeat would not be a disaster.

"Of course this game is massive for us, especially with Celtic losing (to Hearts last weekend]. That has definitely made it an even bigger game than it is already was but if we lose, it's not the end of the world because there's no doubt the Old Firm are going to drop their fair share of points between now and the end of the season. But, to be honest with you, we are not even thinking about losing going into the game. We are on a good run and we want to keep that going. We are looking forward to that game and the three points but it's important we take something from the game."

His individual contribution ensured that was the case the last time the teams squared up, at Ibrox in October, his 63rd-minute goal cancelling out Kris Boyd's opener. It was no ordinary goal either. He took a long ball down on his chest at the edge of the penalty box, managed a wee bit of keepy-uppy with one foot before transferring to the other as he turned to dispatch the effort beyond Allan McGregor.

"I think it was one of them that you can try and they don't always come off but when they do, they are the ones you remember. It's definitely my favourite goal that I have scored in my career.

"We played well that day and we probably could have got all three points but it was just nice to get the goal. I have scored at Celtic Park but I think I enjoyed that one at Ibrox a little bit more! It would have been nice to get a winner but it was good to get something out of that game."

He believes they can do even better at Easter Road this afternoon. He smiles when acknowledging the current form of their opponents, which saw them battering six past a shell-shocked Motherwell team last week, and says now may not be the ideal time to face them but that doesn't mean Hibs are running scared. They are relishing the contest. "Over the next few weeks there are going to be a lot of big games and this one is massive for us. I think we can definitely finish in third place. I think we have shown this year that we are well capable of finishing there but there is that glimmer of hope that we can split the Old Firm but it will be tough. I know they didn't start too well at the beginning of the season but they do have the squad, the money, the players to kick on in the new year and maybe even bring a few new players in but we just need to keep in there and play each game and keep trying to pick up more points and doing what we have been doing this season, grinding out results."

He admits that some weeks have been more comfortable than others but they have still managed to take something from every league game played since the middle of September. In fact they have lost just twice throughout the campaign thus far, and, at home, in a ground Stokes says they are trying to turn into a fortress, they have conceded just three league goals.

In what is a team game, Hibs are a squad with a strong work ethic this season. They also have what some of their rivals don't – goalscorers.

"Some strikers may not do an awful lot throughout a game, and Deeks (Derek Riordan], sometimes, a bit like myself, can go missing in games but if you can pop up and score the winner then people remember that and we have good balance in the team. We work hard and when we get the chances we have been taking them lately and hopefully that will continue."

He's discovered it's the best way to repay his gaffer and ensure he is not the object of his game-time wrath.