Mark Oxley extends Hibs loan deal to end of season

HIBERNIAN have been handed a boost after Hull City gave the green light for Mark Oxley to extend his loan deal with the Easter Road side.

Oxley, who scored on his debut against Livingston, has helped Hibs to third in the Scottish Championship, and said last month that he ‘saw no reason to return to Hull’.

Alan Stubbs had said he was confident of being able to keep the 24-year-old until the end of the season, but needed Tigers boss Steve Bruce to sanction the extension.

The English ‘keeper had initially joined Hibs on a six-month loan deal, and is currently fourth in the pecking order behind Scotland No 1 Allan McGregor, Swiss international Eldin Jakupovic and former Newcastle goalie Steve Harper.

Stubbs has already strengthened his squad with the signings of Martin Boyle on loan from Dundee and Ivorian striker Franck Dja Djedje on an 18-month deal and will likely welcome back injured trio Farid El Alagui, Jordon Forster and Dylan McGeouch this month.

The former Celtic stopper said: “First and foremost, we would like to thank Steve Bruce and Hull City for enabling us to keep Mark here for the rest of the season.

CONNECT WITH THE SCOTSMAN

• Subscribe to our daily newsletter (requires registration) and get the latest news, sport and business headlines delivered to your inbox every morning

• You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google +

“Mark has been really good for us and has provided us with a real presence in goal. His performances have been excellent and have merited the loan extension. We’re delighted, and so is Mark.”

Oxley, who enjoyed loan spells at Grimsby, Burton Albion and Oldham before joining Hibs.

With 23 appearances under his belt to date, the former England Under-20 international said: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at Hibs so far, especially with our recent results. All the hard work is starting to pay off and is showing with our results and I am happy to be part of it.

“Coming here to Hibs was a great opportunity to play as many games as possible and hopefully I can carry on doing that and helping the team to win.

“I had a taste last season of playing a long spell of games and that was the plan for me with this loan move, so it has been really beneficial.”

And Oxley added: “Now we’re just going to keep working hard, buying into what the manager wants us to do and push for promotion.”

SCOTSMAN TABLET AND IPHONE APPS

• Download your free 30-day trial for our iPad, Android and Kindle apps

• Keep up to date with all aspects of Scottish life with The Scotsman iPhone app, completely free to download and use