All systems Agogo as much-travelled striker finds his feet at Hibs

WHILE Garry O’Connor has been taking all the plaudits for his goalscoring feats, in Hibs’ recent matches the impressive form of Junior Agogo has been a highly noticeable contribution to the attacking flair of the Easter Road side.

The much-travelled Ghanaian international was sold on Hibs by manager Colin Calderwood and Akpo Sodje, the English-born striker of a Nigerian background who now shares a flat with Agogo and who has also been somewhat peripatetic.

“There’s a lot of African vibes in the house,” joked Agogo. “We have got a lot in common, so he has helped me settle in a lot, as did all the boys.

“I’d played against Akpo down south and I know his brothers quite well – and there’s loads of them.” Sodje, it should be explained, is the youngest of ten children.

It must make for interesting conversations over dinner – “we eat out a lot,” he explained – between Agogo and Sodje who between them have played for more than 25 different clubs including loan deals.

Born in Accra but raised in London, 32-year-old Agogo himself has played on three continents – Africa with Zamalek of Egypt, America with three clubs and a spell on Cyprus as well as a tour of English League clubs including Nottingham Forest where he worked under Calderwood.

Both flatmates are strikers, and at the moment it is Agogo in possession of a first-team forward place alongside O’Connor and Leigh Griffiths, though Calderwood has made it clear he will permutate his strike force from all four.

“We all want the same thing and that is for Hibs to win,” said Agogo. “No matter who the gaffer picks we are all going to give our best and we are all on the same wavelength.”

Driving into training on a sunny day in his smart Italian sports car and with the reputation of being a snappy dresser, Agogo looks every inch the modern pro footballer, but is definitely more articulate than most.

With the long-awaited home win over St Johnstone in the bag, he was clearly in a very good mood and relishing taking on Rangers today.

“Everyone has a spring to their step and obviously it puts us in good stead for the game in Glasgow,” he said.

“We knew a win would eventually come but after a few draws it starts to sink in to your head so it’s nice to get that out of the way.

“With the players we have going forward we are always going to score goals. We have had meetings amongst ourselves and we know we have been conceding a lot of goals, but that comes from the whole team and I think we can defend better from the top as well.”

Agogo is now approaching full match fitness after a run of small injuries. “It took a while for me to get settled because I had a lot of little niggles but in the last two weeks things have been getting better. I am getting fitter and feeling much sharper, so I’m happy in myself,” he said.

“Before I came here I probably had not played a competitive game in almost 12 months because I had knee surgery and then had problems with my club [Apollon Limassol].

“The gaffer had seen me play and knew what I could do but I got injured in training and with any injury it takes time, but maybe I was pushing myself too much because I wanted to get back and play.

“It’s come together now, I’m feeling good, my body’s okay so I’m happy.”

He has no fear of going to Ibrox either. “The fans here are very passionate but in my first game in Egypt I played in front of 70,000 people and there were 10,000 police,” he added. “It was crazy, if you lose a game there you don’t go out for a month.”

Play and score for a winning Hibs team against Rangers, and Agogo will be dining out for many a night to come.