Kevin Dabrowski on his Hibs return, having nothing to prove, the manager who hurt him and Raith Rovers ambition

After spending six years trying to make it at Hibs, fate has determined that Kevin Dabrowski will finally get the chance to play at Easter Road again just a few months after bidding farewell.

The Polish goalkeeper arrived in Scotland as a raw teenager with dreams of one day becoming the Edinburgh club's number one. Despite a memorable first-team debut against Hearts last year, those hopes never quite materialised and now Dabrowski is establishing himself as a starting shotstopper on the other side of the River Forth. After spending the second half of last season on loan at Queen of the South – managed by his former Hibs colleague Marvin Bartley – Dabrowski was snapped up by Raith Rovers in the summer upon the expiry of his Hibs contract. And things could not be going better for the 6ft 6in goalie with the Kirkcaldy side enjoying an unbeaten start to the campaign that has saw them take four points from their opening two league games in the Championship as well as emerging from a tough group to reach the last 16 of the Viaplay Cup, where a glamour tie against Hibs will see Dabrowski return to his former home with his new club on Sunday.

"You cannot write this! It was supposed to happen," beamed the 25-year-old. "I had a massive smile on my face when the draw was made. I have fantastic memories there and met lots of great people – team-mates, coaches and most important, the fans, who were brilliant for me and I will never forget that they helped me get through such a long time. They always believed in me to wait patiently for my debut and then eventually when it happened I was very proud to make them happy with a display against our biggest rivals. I was very happy I could keep a clean sheet and never let them beat us at Easter Road. So lots of great memories. Now playing against them willl be a new, good experience for me. Once again I will do my best to play as well as possible as I always did at Easter Road. It's my second home so I won't feel like I'm playing away, I will feel like I'll be playing at home. I'm really looking forward to it and I'll be playing with a big smile to be back there.”

There were highs and lows for Dabrowski across his Hibs spell but he left with a strong affinity for the club who took a chance on him and for the fans who developed a real liking to him despite his lack of first-team action. "It was a great six years of my life,” he reflected. “It completely changed me and made me a man. I was still a young kid, 18 when I arrived, which for a goalie is nothing. I was still a junior. I'd been at Lech Poznan for five years and I always wanted to go abroad, especially to Britain. I always loved the style of football. Scottish football was very popular in Poland especially having Artur Boruc and Lukasz Zaluska [at Celtic], and Grzegorz Szamotulski [at Hibs and Dundee United]. It's been a very important league for us which lots of Polish people follow. For me having the chance to come to sign for a team in Scotland, knowing the history of our Polish goalies, which had really good pedigree, I was really excited and wanted to be part of it and hopefully be as good as them one day and build my name in Scotland."

Kevin Dabrowski joined Raith Rovers in the summer after six years at Hibs. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Dabrowski trained under five different Hibs managers from Neil Lennon through to Lee Johnson – but it was the one who gave him his first-team debut who also hurt him the most. An injury to Matt Macey in the lead up to the Edinburgh derby in February 2022 saw then manager Shaun Maloney hand Dabrowski the chance he had waited for. A man-of-the-match performance in a goalless draw with Hearts at Easter Road was followed by a 1-0 home defeat to St Mirren and Dabrowski was immediately dropped back to the bench when Macey returned. Another injury to Macey just a few weeks later meant the Pole was back between the sticks – this time for four matches, keeping another two clean sheets – but again, Macey was restored when he returned to full fitness, leaving Dabrowski devastated and perplexed.

"I waited so long for this chance and suddenly it happened," he said. "The way it happened I couldn't imagine it to get any better. In my first four games in the league for Hibs I kept three clean sheets. So I was doing really well, then after that I was suddenly dropped for no reason. I hadn't made any mistakes and never cost us any goals. I was thinking I've done everything really well – and all the fans were surprised as well. It was really tough and hard for me. It hurt me because I had done my best. I was working hard and I proved myself. I proved I can do it so I couldn't really understand it. It was a really tough period for me. He [Maloney] had some reasons that he just wants to play a more experienced goalie. That I am still young and did really well but he wants a goalie who is older and has been playing a while. I don't know if that was the case or if it was something in his contract but I was very surprised because I did everything I was asked and still it wasn't enough, so I was very disappointed."

Dabrowski’s next and final Hibs appearance came under Lee Johnson at the start of last season – a 1-0 defeat to Falkirk in the League Cup group stages – and his departure was decided upon following an open and honest discussion with the current Hibs boss regarding the prospect of playing regularly under him.

"He just said I needed game-time. He said to me I am too good to be sitting on the bench and having David Marshall, with such a big profile, it won't be easy to put him on the bench and play me ahead of him. I was trying to be more realistic. At the beginning I was really happy when Marsh joined Hibs because I could learn a lot from him. He's a really good friend of mine now so I am very glad that I met him and I could have such a great goalie and person in my life. After that I decided with the gaffer that I need to play games, so if that is not the case at Hibs, I will just need to find a club who will trust me and want me to establish myself as number one. That's why I'm very grateful for Raith Rovers to put their trust in me. So far it's working really well and I will do my best because I am very thankful for the opportunity and I will save every shot with every part of my body if I need to. I will fight for every ball with my life."

Kevin Dabrowski made his Hibs debut against Hearts in a goalless Edinburgh derby in February last year. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)

Dabrowski is not the only former Hibee looking ahead to an Easter Road reunion. Raith are managed by Ian Murray – the former Hibs captain – while midfielder Sam Stanton is another with strong ties to the Leith club. Striker Jamie Gullan also played alongside Dabrowski in the Hibs youth ranks and was involved in a freak injury that almost ended the young goalkeeper's hopes of landing a deal before he even had a chance to sign his initial six month contract.

"On the second day of my arrival, I still hadn't signed the contract, and by this time, Jamie Gullan, my current team mate and good friend of mine, we call him Hammer, he can hit the ball very powerfully, he tried to score against me in one of the small sided games from five yards. He smashed it so hard that when I tried to save it he dislocated my thumb, but he did it so badly that my thumb ended up on the other side of my hand. I knew straight away something was really wrong because the pain was very bad. I wanted to take my glove off but I wasn't able to because I could see my thumb was on the other side. So I turned it back myself and that was one of the biggest pains of my life.

"When I said that to the doctor he told me I'm absolutely crazy. So when I managed to take the glove off the entire skin around my thumb was ripped and the blood was so dark red. For me, such a young boy, seeing that I was a bit shocked. As you can see now I have a scar and had seven or eight stitches. They took me straight to the hospital and told me I would need surgery straight away and I will be out for at least three and a half months. I still hadn't signed the contract yet and I wondered what would happen. But luckily and happily Hibs decided to still keep me, and it was the left hand, not the right. I'm right-handed so I was able to sign the contract!"

While Hibs are on a high after their midweek European heroics in Lucerne and may have one eye on next week's impending battle of Britain with Aston Villa in the Europa Conference League play-off, they will need to be wary of a Raith side in good form and high in confidence, particularly after defeating Kilmarnock on penalties following a 2-2 draw at Rugby Park in the group stages where Dabrowski was the shoot-out hero. "I've already saved four penalties, that's not a bad record. If there is a shoot-out on Sunday everyone knows what will happen..."

Kevin Dabrowski celebrates with Raith team-mate Dylan Easton after the penalty shoot-out win over Kilmarnock in the Viaplay Cup group stages. (Photo by Roddy Scott / SNS Group)

Dabrowski insists, however, he will not be out to prove a point in front of Johnson or anyone else at Hibs. "No, it's not to prove anything, because I think I've already shown on my debut in the biggest game of the season for Hibs in the Edinburgh derby what I can do. What I will do is just show them I am now an established number one and play as best as I can, as I always did at Easter Road. It was very hard and very emotional for me to leave. Every single year for me there was great. Even though I didn't have a chance to play as much, I loved everything about Hibs. The tradition, the community, the boys we had, and the fans were incredible. The city as well. It's been tough but I'm glad I ended up being at such a good club like Raith.

"Having this chance to be here now makes you feel much better, and to see the community here is great. The fans are obsessed about this club as well. It was a great decision to move to Raith because they helped me to settle down and the way they welcomed me has been great. That helped a lot especially at a time when the club is going in such a good direction. Everything is changing off the pitch – the facilities and changing rooms have been done. It is a Premiership standard so now we'll make our shot to make that happen and hopefully play in the Premiership next season. Right now our club has everything in place to play at the highest level."

Regardless of the result, Dabrowski is hopeful of a warm welcome from Hibs fans, adding: "If that's happens that would be really nice. They know how much I love this club. Once a Hibee always a Hibee. It will be quite emotional for me. I will always root for them but for the first time on Sunday, I hope that they will lose."