Wotherspoon knows jobs are on the line

THE Hibernian squad know they are playing for their jobs under new manager Pat Fenlon, David Wotherspoon said yesterday. The defender-cum-midfielder, now on his third manager little more than two years after his debut, plans to start that fight at Fir Park tonight.

“It’s the same with every manager,” the 21-year-old said. “They want to make their own stamp when they come in. We’re trying to impress him, keep our places in the squad, and try and get into his first 11 or first 18.”

Although the lack of continuity at Hibs must be a problem after so many changes at the top, Wotherspoon explained the players did not think ‘Here we go again’ when Colin Calderwood was sacked last month, to be replaced nearly three weeks later by Fenlon. Instead, being painfully aware that they have been underachieving for far too long, they hope the new boss can help them rediscover on the pitch the form they still show on the training ground.

“All the boys are just thinking about trying to improve ourselves, because it’s been a tough year so far,” he added. “We’ve been down there, so we need to try and pick ourselves up, and hopefully he [Fenlon] can help us with that challenge.

“We know how bad we’re playing. The effort we put in is up there. We try and improve every time we go on to the pitch, put all we can into it. The results need to come our way. We go out in training and it looks brilliant, but we need to turn that into results at the weekend. We all know that we’re down there, but we’re looking up the way and it can only get better.”

Not necessarily. With Hibs just two points off the bottom, it could get worse. But Wotherspoon insisted that he and his team-mates do not feel they are in a relegation battle. “We haven’t really looked at it. We’ve got to bring ourselves together, because we’re all in it. We’re just trying to get results and see how we get on from there.”

Although Hibs have lost at home to Motherwell in the SPL, they won on their last visit to Fir Park, albeit only on penalties after their League Cup tie ended 2-2. Nonetheless, that result will give Wotherspoon heart this evening.

“We’ve been there a couple of times this year and we’ve caused them problems. When we won in the League Cup, we showed desire, effort and commitment. We have to do that again over 90 minutes.”