Ally's a hit but won't be craving Christmas No.1

KID gloves Ally Brown today revealed he has his fingers crossed that Hibs’ No.1, namesake Simon, will be fit for Monday’s clash with Dundee United - even if it costs him his first start in the SPL.

The rookie stepped off the bench for his first taste of league action when Brown injured a hip in throwing himself full-length to touch a netbound header from Dunfermline’s Andy Tod round the post.

And while he’d love to claim a place in the starting line-up at Tannadice, the youngster admitted he’s happy - for the time being at least - to let experience take the place of his ambition.

He said: "I only turned 19 last week so I have time on my side. Obviously at some point I’ll want to play but at the moment I am happy to be patient and to spend my time learning.

"Simon is the No.1 goalkeeper and I don’t have any problem with that. He’s a very good goalkeeper, he’s got much more experience than me and he’s done very well this season.

"Hopefully his injury isn’t too serious and he’ll be back in the squad for next Monday."

Brown, whose first-team action has been limited to the InterToto Cup matches with Lithuanian outfit FK Vetra and a CIS Cup outing against Third Division Albion Rovers, admitted he didn’t get a chance to become nervous after his club-mate indicated he couldn’t continue just minutes after the interval.

He said: "It all happened pretty suddenly. Simon looked as if he was struggling after making a great save and I was told to get warmed up right away.

"The score was 0-0 and in that situation all sorts of things go through your mind and Dunfermline tried to test me right away by throwing a lot of crosses into our box."

A stunning free-kick from Stephen Glass eased Brown’s nerves as it fired Hibs ahead only ten minutes after he took to the field. But Tony Mowbray’s side only managed to hang on to their lead for two minutes before Tod equalised for the Pars with a header which left Brown helpless.

And it looked like turning into a disappointing afternoon for Hibs and their fans as the score remained at 1-1 deep into injury time despite the home side pounding Derek Stillie’s goal before Derek Riordan finally made the breakthrough with his 11th goal of the season with only seconds remaining.

Brown said: "I’d have loved to have kept a clean sheet but other than Tod’s goal I didn’t really have a great deal to do. Coming on as I did you find yourself torn between being given a real chance to show what you can do, but you also don’t want to be tested too much. So to that extent it was a good game for me to come into.

"The gaffer had simply told me to be confident and on the pitch Gary Caldwell and Ian Murray were full of encouragement and helped me through by keeping things very quiet in front of me.

"Winning was the most important thing and although we had chances it was starting to look as if we weren’t going to get a second goal. But then Derek came up with yet another superb strike, the sort of thing I have to contend with on the training ground from him, Garry O’Connor and Sam Morrow who are all great finishers.

"Then to come off the park having won it was superb to hear that Aberdeen had lost and the gap they have over us had been cut to just one point when only a few days ago there was the danger it might widen to ten.

"And with Hearts’ game against Livingston being off it means we’ll go into the New Year derby ahead of them. Add in a defeat for Motherwell who are now four points behind us and it turned out to be a great weekend all round."

Brown’s sudden call underlined, he insisted, the value of him doing a full warm-up with his namesake and Hibs goalkeeping coach Ian Westwater before every match.

He said: "I did a quick warm-up before coming on but as a goalkeeper it’s difficult to get your hands warm in that situation.

"You have to rely on what you’ve done before the game and each week Simon and I prepare thoroughly with Westie. We go out 15 minutes before the rest of the boys and we are last in.

"We go through a set routine every week, it’s something I do before every game and obviously on this occasion it paid dividends.

"It’s not often a goalkeeper is replaced during a game but you have to remain switched on as if you were going to play every week."