Fenlon hails Hibs new boys after Rangers victory

Pat Fenlon hailed Hibs’ 3-1 friendly victory over Rangers as “exactly what we needed” after new signings Paul Heffernan and Adbdellah Zoubir scored.

New boy: Paul Heffernan. Picture: SNS

The closed-doors game also featured the return of Tim Clancy and James McPake as the Easter Road side’s early-season injury woes begin to subside.

French winger Zoubir, on loan from FC Istres until the end of the season, netted a double either side of a Jon Daly goal at Murray Park. Heffernan, who joined from Kilmarnock last week, scored the third with a tidy, right-footed finish.

Perhaps more importantly for Hibs manager Fenlon was the return of captain McPake, who had not played since limping off in Hibs’ 7-0 defeat by Malmo in July. The 29-year-old played 80 minutes against a strong Rangers side, which included Daly, Barrie McKay, Dean Shiels and David Templeton. Clancy also featured for over an hour as the former Motherwell and Kilmarnock man steps up his recovery from groin surgery.

Fenlon said: “It was a good workout and exactly what we needed. The new signings got some game time as did James [McPake] and Tim [Clancy], plus some of the younger players got a run out as well.”