Hibs' Harry McKirdy: No goals, no assists - I know I've not been good enough but I want to prove everyone wrong

Harry McKirdy speaks to the media ahead of Hibs' match against Dundee United.

A transitional season for many of the teams contesting third and fourth in the cinch Premiership, it has also been a season of transition for the Londoner as he adapts to being further away from home, the differences between English League Two football and the Scottish top flight, and the joys of racking up goals galore compared to the torment of reaching this stage of the campaign without bagging a single goal or assist.

Last weekend a poor performance from the Leith club saw them lose out to a much-improved Motherwell side. It denied them the chance to close the gap on third-placed Hearts and allowed Aberdeen and St Mirren take a step beyond them in the chase for fourth. With just three games before the split and then five after it, they cannot afford to pass up too many more possibilities.

“This season there will be a lot of teams who will have regrets,” said McKirdy. “Because outside of the top two, it’s been criminal the amount of points dropped. We’re still in a fight for third and fourth even though we’ve had two really bad spells so whoever doesn’t finish in those positions will be kicking themselves because there have been so many opportunities. It feels like everyone has just kept messing up. There’s a lot to play for.”

McKirdy has yet to score for Hibs since joining last summer.

McKirdy gets that more than most. Having been heralded as an exciting summer signing, who rattled in goals for fun for Swindon last term, he has not caught fire yet. “There's quite a lot of moments when you look back,” the 26-year-old said. “I should probably have scored twice in my first game and if I get one or two of them then it might have been a completely different time but that's not how it's gone and there's not much I can do about that now.

“I scored 26 goals last season and it was 40 goals and assists so that is something you get used to. Every time I stepped on the pitch, I expected to score one or two, or grab the matchwinner, or set it up and that was a habit that you get into. This season has been different and you can't shy away from that. I have no goals or assists and that's not where I want to be but I just have to turn it around. I have been involved in 15 games, four from the start, so there has not been a lot of opportunities but that is still 15 times I have been on the pitch and that is not good enough – no goals and assists.”

But McKirdy insists he is still enjoying life in the capital and at Hibs, where he says the support of his team-mates is still evident even if a lot of fans and pundits have lost faith. “It is tough,” he said. “They don’t have expectations any more. I think they did when I first came but now I've been pretty much written off by most people outside the building but inside the building it’s not like that. I can tell the boys are desperate for me to get a goal. They say every week, ‘we want to see the machine gun celebration’ and I'm desperate for it to happen but it hasn’t yet and that's something I can't shy away from and it does play on your mind.”

McKirdy has had trying times before and emerged from the gloom. Before Swindon there was little or no interest from clubs willing to even give him a trial and it scunnered him. “There was a time during lockdown when I was unregistered in January and there were no fans at games,” revealed the Londoner. “There was no real interest and I had no interest in playing non-league with no fans for £500 a week. I asked myself, do I really want to do that or should I look elsewhere. I was just lucky that Swindon were in a situation that summer where they only had seven players. They took me in and I got my love for football back. It was a big 12 months for me. Chelsea won the European Cup [he is a Chelsea fan but says that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about Hibs], England had a good run in the Euros and I joined a group at Swindon who were so welcoming to me.”

McKirdy has tasted success in England, particularly at Swindon.

But he is a realist. “This game owes you nothing. I’ve been in it my whole life but it doesn’t owe me anything. Some people worse than me might have better careers. A lot of players better than me have worse careers. You just take what you can from it. I haven’t had all my ups in my career yet and I’m definitely not out of downs. People say don’t get too high with the good times or low with the bad times. I struggle to do that because there’s been so many lows – you’re going to get down. So when I have good times, I enjoy it.”

It may have been an inauspicious start but just seven months into a three-year deal, he has not given up hope on making an impact. “There’s definitely unfinished business,” added McKirdy. “If I left here with no goals or assists, I’d be gutted. If I left here with one goal I’d be gutted. I know I’ve got much more than that. A lot of people are saying, ‘I want to see you get a goal’ but I don’t want to come here and just score one goal. I want to come here and do what I was doing last season. I don’t think that’s out of reach, I don’t think that’s unrealistic.”