Hibs' Nish desperate to Col the shots

The big striker earned rave reviews and a couple of man-of-the-match awards in November and December after being dropped back into midfield from his usual striker's role.

But a change of formation for the game against Hearts at the turn of the year saw the big striker sit out the 90 minutes on the substitutes' bench.

And he was a substitute again at Tannadice again last weekend and has now confessed that he's desperate to win back a regular place in John Hughes' starting line-up.

Missing out has been a hard one to take for Nish, but he reckons that the only way to deal with the disappointment is to knuckle down and prove his manager was wrong to leave him out.

He said: "I have enjoyed playing further towards the middle of the park but, to be honest, I've just been enjoying getting a game because I've been dropped a couple of times in the last few weeks. I was disappointed, really disappointed, to miss out on the game against Hearts and it was a really difficult one to take.

"I got back into the side for the game against Irvine Meadow but then I was back out of the starting line-up for the game against Dundee United.

"Obviously, I would love to be involved this weekend but you just have to wait and see how it goes.

"Sometimes when I've been dropped, it's not been for anyone else as such, it's just been that your position has been taken away more than anything else.

"If the manager changes the shape to suit the opposition then it can mean a formation that you don't fit into.

"It's disappointing but there's not much that you can do about it. The manager picks the team and you have just got to get on with it because we've got a squad of probably over 20 players at the club who are all more than capable of playing.

"Sometimes you've got to look at things the other way and say that I'm fortunate to have actually played as many games as I have this season."

Despite his frustration and disappointment at being dropped in recent weeks, Nish insisted there is no point in wallowing in self pity which could have a detrimental effect on his game.

He added: "It is disappointing sometimes to be dropped when you don't think you deserve to miss out but there is not much point in moaning about it because that doesn't get you anywhere.

"If you sit and moan all the time then that can affect your game. You've just got to pick yourself up and get on with it."

When Nish has played this season he has, in more recent months, been used in the gap behind the two main strikers, working as the main link between the midfield and attack.

As a result of playing deeper, the big striker has bagged only two goals so far in this campaign but he's desperate to rectify that situation: "I think I should have scored a few more because I've had one or two chances I could have put away.

"I am going through a bit of a dry spell right now but, at the same time, I've not really had a consistent run of first-team games either and you sometimes need that to get a bit of form going.

"The most important thing is that the team is winning, but I would still like to chip in with a few goals of my own so hopefully there are more to come from me this season."

Hibs play host to Hamilton tomorrow and Accies have proved in recent matches against Rangers in both the SPL and Scottish Cup that they will be no pushovers.

Having lost 2-0 at New Douglas Park earlier in the season – a game which also saw Nish red-carded in the dying minutes – the Hibs frontman admitted he and his team-mates will need no extra warning about the threat tomorrow's opponents pose.

"Hamilton are a very difficult side to play against, as they've proved against Rangers in the last couple of weeks," Nish continued.

"We went through there earlier in the season and didn't have a very good time of it, we lost 2-0 and I got sent off to make things worse.

"That was just a horrible day when absolutely everything went wrong for us and then, just when you think it can't get any worse, the referee sent me off.

"We know that we are going to have to work our socks off but we're at home and hopefully we will have enough quality to take all three points."

If Hibs manage to put one over on Accies this weekend, it will be their first win since the 2-0 victory over Aberdeen in the middle of December.

In their defence, Hibs have faced a tough run of matches against league leaders Rangers, city rivals Hearts and Euro rivals Dundee United and Nish is keen to see them get back on track as soon as possible: "We were on a good run from the beginning of the season but it has kind of tailed off in the last couple of weeks. But we've had some difficult games and we're back at home this weekend and hopefully we can get ourselves back on track.

"We lost to Rangers and Dundee United and drew with Hearts in between those games but there wasn't much between the teams.

"Each of those games could really have gone either way but we've maybe just not had that wee bit of luck that we did in the early part of the season.

"We knew there was going to be a point in the season when we dropped points because I think that every team in the league will go through a difficult spell.

"It doesn't matter if that's through not playing well or just not getting the luck but we need to make sure we get back to winning ways against Hamilton and keep the pressure up on Dundee United. We're into the second round of fixtures now and teams will have a better idea of how to shape up against you, which will make things more difficult.

"We just have to make sure we are aware of that and know how to handle it.

"It's never easy – but I think we did really well to go on that run in the first place.

"The sooner we can get back to that kind of form, the better.

"People have maybe been a bit carried away and been saying that our bubble has burst. I certainly don't think that's the case.

"We have set our own standards and we've got to stick to them."