Hibs keeper eyes sustained run of fortune

The fortune that has befallen him throughout his 11 years as a professional goalkeeper is as fickle and ephemeral as the stereotypical football fan, so Graham Stack is well-versed in the type of ups and downs that have shaped his past 12 months at Hibs.

Beset by injury in his two years at Easter Road, Stack has started this campaign - his third in the Capital - as No. 1 under Colin Calderwood and has seen his on-field form hued in the same changing shades that reflect the purple patches and grey areas of his career as a whole.

As he has sought to maintain his form in goal and sustain a living in football, Stack has stumbled across numerous awkward obstacles along the way. Dropping a cross to allow his friend Anthony Stokes to score Celtic's first SPL goal of the season in the league curtain-raiser in Leith ten days ago was, with a degree of Stack-like inevitability, followed up with a penalty save from Gary Hooper. At the weekend, Stack then kept a clean sheet to help earn Hibs a first-ever win in Inverness.

Luck would appear currently to be dished out in favour of the amiable Irish international, who is injury-free after missing the final months of last season.

"It was the best part of three months out of football with the shoulder injury," reflected the 29-year-old. "I've not just missed pre-season, not just the 4-5 weeks off that the rest of the lads have had. I was in rehab for 11 weeks before that.

"I've been injured before so I knew what to expect. It's a case of not rushing, getting back as quickly as possible without taking any shortcuts. I just wanted to make sure I came back in the best possible state. Once you're back out there on the training pitch, you've lost a bit of sharpness that only comes with games and training sessions.

"The last couple of years it's been hard for me with setbacks, being knocked down and getting back up again. It's something I'd like to think is behind me now. I've played back-to-back games now, so to stay in the side is my biggest aim."

Out of favour under John Hughes at this time last season, Stack's chance to stake his claim for a regular start under Calderwood came in February, four months after the former Nottingham Forest manager arrived. He conceded just two goals in five games as Hibs registered a resurgence in form early in the new year, but his run was cruelly curtailed by a shoulder injury sustained at Hamilton's New Douglas Park during a 2-1 away win. His form, coupled with his influence in the dressing room, he says, elicited the offer of a new one-year contract in June, which Stack, who lives locally with his wife and three children, duly accepted.

"I had a chat with the gaffer after the injury because I was in a frustrating place," said Stack. "I had only played in six games but I had done well in those games, the team had improved. But, it was about more than those six games. The manager had seen me on a day-to-day basis, at training, in games. He's seen me in the changing room, in and around the training ground, on match days. Some players tend to bring a bit more to the table. Maybe that's played in my favour as well.

"I was delighted when I got the offer for a year. I had my third child on the way at the time, and it was a bit of a crazy summer. I was delighted to get things penned and to realise I was going to be coming back up here for another season."

Having only played 20-plus games in three of his 11 full seasons as a professional - on loan from first club Arsenal at Belgian club Beveren and then Millwall, and in his first year at Hibs in 2009/10 - Stack is determined to capitalise on the all-too-infrequent experience of finding himself first in line for the position of goalkeeper.

The reasons for his relative lack of first-team football read like a Who's Who of some of the English Premier League's most consistent and promising shot-stoppers. Germany's World Cup No.1 Jens Lehmann was often the man between Stack and a start at Arsenal, while United States international Marcus Hahnemann kept him - and the goals - out at Reading. Scotland cap Neil Sullivan and the precocious young Wales goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey stopped Stack gaining more on-field time at Leeds and Wolves respectively.

"People have always said, 'Oh, he's not played a lot of football.' My argument is that if I'd been at most other teams in the country, I would have been playing. People tend to forget the clubs that I've been at and the 'keepers I've been with.

"I signed for Blackpool on loan, they hadn't won in five games. I was eligible for their first game, where they beat Plymouth, so the gaffer didn't want to change the team the following week. Blackpool then went on a run of seven games unbeaten, during which their goalkeeper saved two penalties. You do start to think, 'Am I the unluckiest fella in the world?'"

His feeling that events appear to conspire against him with alarming frequency was only cemented by the high-profile setting for the rare error Stack committed against Celtic that gifted Stokes the opener.

"No-one likes making mistakes - especially on TV, especially against Celtic, and especially when it's 0-0. There's no good time to make them, especially when your mate ends up sticking it in the back of the net. That didn't help."When things are going well in football, you take the plaudits, but you have to take the rough with the smooth."

More of the latter was gladly accepted by Stack and his young defence as Hibs posted their first-ever victory at Inverness on Saturday, Garry O'Connor netting in injury time to seal a 1-0 win. "We're pleased to get the clean sheet," said Stack. "It didn't matter who we were playing at the weekend, I'm just so happy to come away from the game having not conceded - and with such a young back four. The young lads are faultless. I don't think Victor Palsson's happy playing at right back but he gets on with it. He's played for Iceland there and he's a committed boy. Paul Hanlon is Mr Reliable, rarely flustered, he's got an old head on young shoulders - a very grounded boy.

"Boothy is the most laid-back lad you'll ever come across. His quality on the ball is brilliant for a lad that young, he's never fazed, always calm, and Big Denzil (David Stephens] is physical, a big powerhouse, very quick and strong. They're young lads - you have to keep them going, you can't demoralise them when they're young."

Adversity as a budding young player is, of course, exactly what Stack had to battle, and he will rely on the type of resilient and gritty attitude he has developed then as he bids to consolidate his place in the Hibs first team.