LEE Johnson last night expressed confidence that Kevin Nisbet will remain at Easter Road until the summer after Hibernian’s record 6-0 triumph over Aberdeen.
Nisbet turned down the chance to move to Millwall on Friday despite the London club having a £2.35m bid for the Scotland internationalist accepted.
The 25-year-old came off the bench and netted his eighth goal in as many games in the second-half of the cinch Premiership game yesterday.
Johnson is optimistic the forward will still be at Hibs when the January transfer window closes on Tuesday night.
Asked if he thought Nisbet would stay, he said: “Yeah, I do. He’s here currently isn’t he? I’m not aware of anything else bubbling. So I think he’ll be here until the summer.
“We haven’t spoken about it a lot because he’s only just back. He was even late today because of the traffic from Glasgow.
“I spoke to him very briefly. I welcomed him back and told him I was personally delighted that he hadn’t gone and then articulated that he’d be on the bench and not start.”
Johnson added: “When Kevin gets the bit between his teeth on anything he has that ability and self-belief to focus intently on what he wants.
“He rang me up yesterday and said: ‘Look I’m coming back I want to start’. I told him we’d worked all week and he hadn’t kicked a ball in anger, but that we’d get him on and we have another game Tuesday.
“He has that laser focus to keep scoring goals. If you want anybody one on one with the keeper, half the pitch, it’s him isn’t it?”
Meanwhile, Johnson predicted that Goodwin, who was sacked as Aberdeen manager immediately after the 6-0 loss, would be back in work soon.
“I know Jim,” he said. “I played against him a number of times as a player and I know he is a very good manager.
“It’s a ruthless business this game. I’ve been on the end of scenarios like that myself, but he will be fine. He is a very good manager with a good track record and he will go and get another job very quickly.”
