Steve Kean has admitted Hibs first-team stars who have had a lack of minutes so far this season will get game-time in the SPFL reserve league opener.
The Hibees host Dundee United at the Hibernian Training Centre later today in what will be the first competitive league fixture for the development squad following a busy pre-season period and defeat in the SPFL Trust Trophy on penalty kicks by Highland League leaders Brechin City.
Ten teams will compete in the nine-game season with each club facing each other once across the reserve league campaign. Lee Johnson's top team has had a major summer overhaul and a number of first-team stars have been unable to gain valuable match minutes as a cause. But they will get a run out with Academy Director Kean confirming that the Easter Road boss wants them to have the opportunity to play in today's 2pm showdown. The team will be made up of first-team players and some of the youngster players.
Kean said: “The lads are looking forward to getting into a more competitive environment. We had a great training day on Monday – we trained as a group, with everyone that will be involved and the lads all trained really well.
“There was a good atmosphere about the place. We planned out our set-plays, focused on our shape, and had a really good session with a good mixture of both senior lads and younger players.”
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He continued: “There will be a good mixture of some of the younger lads who are coming through, as well as a few of the first-team boys. A few players haven’t had as many minutes as the manager would have wanted so we are giving them the opportunity to play.
“I imagine Dundee United will be in a similar situation to us so we don’t know exactly what squad we will come up against but it will be a good test for us either way.”
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