Barnsley set to face Hibs in friendly

Hibs today completed their summer schedule with the announcement that English Championship side Barnsley will play at Easter Road next month.

The visit of the Oakwell outfit on July 16 - the Saturday before the new SPL season gets underway - brings the total of friendlies to be played by Colin Calderwood's side to seven.

Now managed by Keith Hill following Mark Robins' departure in mid-May, the South Yorkshire club will be playing in Leith for the first time since the summer of 1998 when they helped open The Famous Five Stand.

Admission prices for the match will be 10 (adults) and 5 (concessions).

Hibs will complete their preparations for the new season a few days later when they travel to face First Division promotion hopefuls Falkirk on Tuesday, July 19, a fixture which will make it five games in 18 days for Calderwood's players.

They kick off against Berwick Rangers at Shielfield Park on Saturday, July 2, and then play Livingston at the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium the following Tuesday before crossing the Forth to face John Robertson's East Fife in Methil the next Saturday.

The games against Barnsley and Falkirk complete the pre-season schedule but once the SPL action gets underway Hibs will have two more friendlies to play, travelling to meet Blackpool at Bloomfield Road on Tuesday, July 26.

And Hibs have taken advantage of the dispensation offered by the SPL to arrange a friendly with Premier League Sunderland in the Capital on Saturday, August 6, two weeks after their first League game.

Meanwhile, axed Hibs kid Kurtis Byrne has joined former Easter Road assistant manager Derek Adams by heading by heading north to join Ross County. Adams returned to the Dingwall club only seven months after quitting to become Calderwood's No.2, insisting he wanted to be a manager in his own right again.