Paul Hanlon warms to Hibs' task

After losing his place in the starting line-up, the Scotland Under-21 skipper was desperate to impress boss Colin Calderwood as he replaced Michael Hart early in the second half against Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Minutes later, however, Hanlon was heading for an early bath, red-carded by referee Steve Conroy after instinctively using his hand to stop an effort from Caley's Adam Rooney crossing the line. It was, the 20-year-old declared, the most bizarre five minutes of his career and a moment which has left him cooling his heels for almost a month.

After sitting out the visit of St Johnstone the following week thanks to the automatic one-match ban he picked up, Hanlon has found himself, like his Easter Road team-mates, thrust into cold storage with Hibs matches against St Mirren and Hamilton called off because of the Arctic weather. But now the games are due to come thick and fast for Colin Calderwood's side, kicking off with tomorrow's trip to Kilmarnock and a match which will be quickly followed by the rearranged fixture against Accies and then further clashes with Aberdeen, Dundee United and Hearts.

It is, Hanlon admitted, a hectic schedule and one which will go a long way to shaping what has, to date, been a pretty disappointing season for the Hibees who find themselves languishing in ninth place and trailing Capital rivals Hearts by a mammoth 17 points.

However, he insisted everything is far from lost, pointing out how Jim Jefferies' outfit were just as far, if not further, behind Hibs this time last year before embarking on a remarkable run which thrust them into the race for Europe.

He said: "It's always harder when you are in a two-team city, you are never compared to anyone else but your big rivals. When Hearts are doing well it looks as if we aren't doing so well but, credit to them, they've put together a terrific run of six straight wins.

"But this time last year the tables were turned, we were as far ahead of them as they are now before they came storming up the table. If we can start to get a bit of consistency into our game then we can start climbing ourselves.

"In this league, as we have already seen, every team is capable of beating each other, even the Old Firm, so there is no reason why we can't start pushing on.

"The Christmas and New Year period is important in any season, we already had a lot of games and now we've got an extra one with the Hamilton match rearranged for Wednesday.

"We need to pick up some form and these games present us with the opportunity to enjoy a turning point in our season. However, the next 90 minutes are always the most important and we need to concentrate solely on Killie this weekend, look to put in a performance and pick up the three points.

"It's not a case of looking over our shoulders at what is behind us - if you do that then you'll be caught - but looking up the table and trying to catch those in front of us."

While Rugby Park has been anything but a productive destination for Hibs who boast just three SPL wins in Ayrshire over the past ten years, the Edinburgh club did wreak some measure of revenge for a Co-operative Insurance Cup exit in Kilmarnock earlier in the season with a 2-1 win over Mixu Paatelainen's players in the Capital to earn three precious points. To that extent Hanlon is well aware Hibs face a tough challenge against a side which has been transformed under the manager who, when in charge at Easter Road, gave the youngster a shock debut at the age of just 17, pitching him into a Scottish Cup clash with Inverness, one which was won with a Dean Shiels' hat-trick.

Hanlon said: "Obviously I'll always be grateful to Mixu, he'd never seen me play and yet put me in for his first game. He then gave me a fair few more matches but now, of course, it's all about beating his team.

"They've been going really well with Alexei Eremenko in the middle of the park. Against us earlier in the season they did well, playing some good stuff from the back.

"But on Saturday it is all about playing our own game."

And for Hanlon his fingers are crossed that he'll be involved following his prolonged spell out of action. He said: "When you aren't in the starting line-up but come off the bench you are looking to impress in the hope you'll start the next week.

"I didn't get the chance to do that up in Inverness. I was on the line, went to block the ball and then it took a deflection and went up in the air.

"The natural reaction was to throw a hand up, I didn't even think about it.

"People say you should keep your hands by your side, but it's something you see all the time, Paul Hartley of Aberdeen did it against Celtic just the other week.

"When I looked up the first thing I saw was the referee running towards me. I didn't even bother waiting for the red card, I knew what was coming."It was the first red card I've ever had at any level in football." Hanlon's only hope was that Caley, who were already leading 1-0, would miss from the spot but Rooney, who had scored a penalty to equalise at Easter Road earlier in the season proved reliable again, netting his sixth goal from 12 yards as he went on to claim a hat-trick that day, thus taking his tally to 13.

Hanlon said: "I suppose if they had missed and we'd got back into the game some might have said I'd done a job for us but Rooney has a fair record with penalties.

"Even although we lost that day, I felt the boys showed a lot of character in scoring twice to keep themselves in with a chance of taking something,"