Jock the Jambo, Ryan Stevenson, Gary Locke, Martin Giesler, Stephen Hendry, Mark Donaldson, Ken Stott, Gavin Hastings, Jimmy Jambo on Twitter.. your boys took a hell of a beating.
While the sun shines on Leith it’s minus 13 in Gorgie right now. And it’s time for a few bookmarked keyboard warriors to get their comeuppance after the split well and truly hit the fan at Hearts.
Okay I was bold on these very pages on September 6 when I predicted “Hibs can grab Hearts bragging rights and be capital kings for the first time since Gorgie mob’s return”. But the league table doesn’t lie. Thirteen points ahead and on opposite sides of the split with five games left – even I never expected the gap to be this big!
So this one is for you Nicole “this nonsense always comes back to bite you, Tam” Dunn. And for you Jimmy “never change Tam, bookmarked” Jambo. And especially you Keith Carlyon. If I’m a “melt” then it’s only because the footballing sunshine is absolutely beating down on Leith right now.
It’s all good, harmless fun of course. But there’s no denying it’s a brilliant time for Hibs fans. They’re well overdue it.
I can’t see past them for third place and what should be the guaranteed Euro group stage spot. Hearts? It’s the League Cup sections in July they can look forward to unless they somehow lift the gloom and win the Scottish Cup.
I genuinely believed what I said in September. I knew they had assembled a good squad capable of finishing above a Hearts side that had almost been carried to third last season by one man – Lawrence Shankland.
I’ll admit I began to doubt the prediction in November with Hibs stuck bottom of the table and, let’s be honest, Gray just one or two defeats from the sack. But what has happened since – 17 league games unbeaten – has been nothing short of phenomenal.
Sunday summed up where they are right now. A home game with huge expectations on them against a Dundee side fighting for their lives and scoring goals for fun. Exactly the kind of game Hibs would have lost not long ago. But they absolutely whacked Tony Docherty’s men. It was 4-0 going on six or seven and some of the football on display was of the top drawer.
Hats off to David Gray and his players because, the way they are playing, I’ve not seen a better Hibs side since before I joined the club way back in the 90s. They are now on their best sequence of results in the league since the 1940s and breaking all sorts of records.
Beating Hearts home and away, beating Celtic at home, beating Rangers away, beating Aberdeen home and away .. it has been sensational.
Every player is at the top of their game and the competition for places is driving that. Look at the two strikers that started against Dundee. Martin Boyle and Myko Kuharevich both put in a brilliant shift and played their part but then Kieron Bowie and Dwight Gayle come on to replace them and both score.
With the form right now you don’t even need a coach cracking the whip, the players drive themselves because they know if they don’t perform, they’re not going to play. Nicky Cadden was, and still might be, player of the year due to his brilliant performances before getting injured last month.
Now he’s fit again and can’t get back in the team because Jordan Obita is doing so well on the left flank. Josh Campbell got a couple of goals against Celtic but again is on the bench because those in front of him are playing so well.
It’s a shame Hibs had such a poor start because they’d be challenging Rangers for second place if they’d even won a couple of those games. But right now they deserve to finish third.
Which would be a massive step forward from the last few seasons. There’s work to be done and the games against Aberdeen and Dundee United will be massive.
The biggest difference between Hibs and Hearts right now – other than 13 points – is the goal threat. Every time Hibs go on the park you expect them to score. Boyle in particular is on fire but there’s goals coming from every area – the flanks, midfield, big Rocky Bushiri at the back as he showed again on Saturday.
Hearts without Shankland on form have nobody chipping in when it’s needed and the fact they’ve drawn three blanks in their last three games when the pressure was on says it all.
And the really exciting bit for Hibs fans is the glimpse of what’s to come from Bowie. The summer signing suffered a nightmare when he got injured on Scotland U21 duty just after coming in the door.
But after four or five months out he looks like he’s close to full fitness and produced a man of the match performance coming off the bench against Dundee.
His two goals were clinical, he’s a powerful unit and holds the ball in well but Bowie also showed intelligence with his runs and looks every inch a proper number nine.
Hopefully he shows everyone what he’s about next season. Before then he can play a big part in clinching third. And cementing capital bragging rights.
Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport’s newest podcast, Game On, every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.