David Marshall reckons Hibs boss Lee Johnson is up for the fight to be the third force in Scotland next season.
The Easter Road keeper admitted they would settle for fifth – and possible place in Europe if Celtic win the Scottish Cup – after a nightmare first half of the season amid a brutal injury list. But he knows Johnson is determined to scrap it out to be the best of the rest in this country and he’ll look to bolster the squad this summer. The Hibs gaffer is set to start next season in the stands after being shown a red card for his part in the tussle at Tynecastle following the 1-1 draw saw Hearts hold on to fourth.
But Marshall said: “The manager is passionate, the same as Steven Naismith is passionate at Hearts. He’s desperate to do well and January we brought in some players that have done well, like CJ, Jeggo’s come in and performed well and since Kevin came back, we’ve improved a lot and you’d like to think we’ll do better with Martin Boyle. There will be big changes. We lost Ryan Porteous midway as well so there’s been a fair bit of upheaval in the first half of the season but there’s much to look forward to.”
Marshall believes there is more to come from Hibs. Asked if this campaign could be classed as a success, the former Scotland No.1 said: “I don’t think successful is the word. It’s better than last season.
“The start of the season was unstable with the change of manager from Shaun Maloney to Lee, another set of players coming in and players still there from Jack Ross’ era. So it was a tough start, we went out of the League Cup group stages straight away.
“We’ve been unlucky. Kevin came back in November and we’ve missed Aiden McGeady and Martin. They’re strong players. But since January, we have improved. I think the fans will be happy with that, in terms of January and fighting for fourth on the last day is certainly an improvement on where we were. Ultimately, for me Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen should be fighting for third.”
Hearts and Aberdeen might have more financial clout but Marshall said: “I’ve no idea in terms of budgets but there’s nothing to suggest we shouldn’t be challenging for third, our records against Aberdeen and Hearts are pretty similar in terms of the league.
“Aberdeen have had a mad season in terms of changing the manager but that consistency we lacked in the first part of the season needs to be there. We beat Aberdeen twice and competed with Hearts strongly. We’ve lost a lot of points against the bottom three teams. It’s that consistency we didn’t have the first part of the season.
“But optimism when you take a step back and look at it. There’s still a lot of work to do. Aberdeen will get stronger and Hearts will get stronger so we need to be the same.”
Marshall felt Hibs let Hearts off the hook, following Alex Cochrane’s red card. He said: “It seemed like when Kevin scored, it felt like a matter of time before we scored the second. Half time probably helped Hearts a lot and we didn’t get in our flow in the second half.
“It felt a bit stop-start. We had big chances from set-plays but not enough clear-cut ones. It was a big disappointment because when it goes to 10 men and 1-1 at the same time. We haven’t had that big moment of success, hopefully it comes. We want to be playing European football so hopefully Celtic can do us a turn.”
READ NEXT
