Nish back to fight for his Hibs place

HIBS boss John Hughes will welcome Colin Nish back into the squad for this weekend's game against St Johnstone - but insisted that the big striker will have to battle for his place in the starting line-up.

Nish missed the SPL game with Celtic on Saturday because of the ankle injury that he suffered in the midweek Co-operative Insurance Cup defeat to Kilmarnock.

However he returned to training on Monday and is expected to declare himself fit for the weekend's clash.

While Hughes is delighted to see increased competition for places because of the striker's return to fitness, he warned that the former Killie man is not guaranteed to walk back into the side. Defender Sol Bamba also looks set to return to the squad after shaking off a groin problem that he suffered in the same match and the Hibs manager said: "He is going to have to fight for his place in the side. I thought that the boys did really well against Celtic last weekend, although the result maybe didn't go our way in the end.

"He's been back training with the boys and he has looked sharp and injury free and we will have to look at our options for the St Johnstone game.

"It's not a case of just coming straight back into a side, we've got good competition for places here and I will consider everything. My main concern though, is bringing a bit of consistency back into our performances and results.

"I have seen us play well for 45 minutes here and one half there but I want to see us do that over 90 minutes. There are a lot of positives to be taken from the game against Celtic. There were a lot of things to show that we are moving in the right direction."