‘Excited’ Hibs boss Jack Ross on a mission to get best out of Scott Allan

Getting to know all his players this week, Jack Ross has been assessing how to maximise the input of his main assets.

New Hibs manager Jack Ross says he will not ask players to fit into system that is beyond them. Picture: SNS.

While his predecessor clashed with supporters over how to get the best from playmaker Scott Allan, the new Hibernian manager is looking to set out his side around the talismanic attacker.

“I’ve had examples of that with Lewis [Morgan] at St Mirren, Aiden [McGeady] at Sunderland. Last season he was terrific for me. Ideally, I find a way to get the best from them, because the players that can make the difference in games, those matchwinners are difficult to come by. Scotty’s definitely one of those. I’ve been really impressed by him this week. Not just on the pitch, but as a young man and speaking to him as well. There’s a maturity about him and hopefully I can get the best from him on a consistent basis, because he’s absolutely got the quality. Not just on the ball, but his all-round application and how he is. If I can get the best from him then he’ll be a major asset for us.

“You balance out everything else accordingly. It’s about me figuring out as quickly as possible how to get the best from Scotty and from others. I’m excited.”

Associated with a certain brand of attacking football, Ross says the focus, first and foremost, is on getting wins, any way that is necessary.

“At the moment it is about me finding the best way to get the best from them all rather than them fitting into what I want. That is my approach, rather than me coming in and saying I want to play a certain way. It is foolish to do that if you don’t have the players at your disposal to do that. There are good players here and I just need to understand as soon as possible how I can get the best from them and if that means doing things a way I have never done before, I’m quite happy, so long as it means we are playing well and winning games.”

The fact they did that in their last outing, against St Johnstone, means there may not be too many changes for today’s hosting of Motherwell.

“That was a team that performed well and had a terrific result. So we’re weighing that up when deciding what we go with but there’s obviously a lot of positives from the last game.”

Meanwhile, Stephen Robinson has hailed Bevis Mugabi for winning a long-term deal at Motherwell but warned the defender he is not guaranteed to keep his place in the line-up.

Uganda international Mugabi was signed on a short-term contract back in September after centre-back Charles Dunne was forced to undergo groin surgery and has performed so well he has convinced Well boss Robinson to hand him a deal stretching to the summer of 2021.

However, with new Scotland cap Declan Gallagher also impressing, the Northern Irishman has told Mugabi he must maintain his current standards if he wants to ensure Dunne does not walk back into the team come January.

He said: “In his two games (at Celtic and Rangers) he came through very difficult games, and I think he acquitted himself very well.

“But he’s under no illusions that he’s got a real fight on his hands to stay in the team.”