JIM GOODWIN expects Hibernian to provide a yardstick for his Aberdeen team when the two sides meet at Easter Road tomorrow afternoon but the Irishman does not believe that Rangers were handed a reprieve by Premiership matches being called off a week ago.
Last weekend’s domestic fixtures were postponed to mark the Queen’s death, denying the Dons the opportunity to host Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s struggling Rangers side in the league and interrupting the north east club’s promising early-season momentum.
Goodwin hopes that the short break will have benefitted his players, some of whom were able to recover from various scrapes and bruises during the past week, but he doesn’t think that the timing of the postponements handed the men from Ibrox something of a reprieve – particularly after watching the Govan outfit take on Napoli in the Champions League, where the Italians pulled out of sight to chalk up a 3-0 win after James Sands’ dismissal.
“When you are playing well as we were then you don’t want any kind of a break,” he explained.
“You want to try and maintain that momentum so one the one hand we would have liked the games to go ahead but on the other hand we had a couple of players with little niggles and knocks and the break has not done them any harm.
“I don’t know about that [that Rangers were handed a reprieve].
“They weren’t in great form going into the game last weekend and we had been playing quite well so we were quite confident and optimistic, but I would have to say that their performance on Wednesday night against a really strong Napoli side was very good.
“At 11 v 11, I thought they held their own. It might not have been as easy as some people might have anticipated [our fixture].”
Aberdeen will return to action against Hibs tomorrow afternoon and Goodwin is able to draw a few parallels between the two clubs, who he feels are in a state of transition.
Trips to the capital are usually a fair barometer when trying to determine which team is likely to finish third, he reasons, and while he is targeting a crack at group stage European football next term, Goodwin is also acutely aware of the toll that accompanies playing regularly on the continent.
He said: “Hearts have set the standard last year with the third best team in the country. They seemed to be well out in front of the rest.
“They have had a bit of a dip in form of late, which has coincided with injuries to key players and the busy schedule that comes with being in Europe.
“As good as it is to be there and involved on that stage, when you don’t have a huge squad it can have an impact on your domestic football. We have seen that over the years.
“Hibs are in a similar transition period to ourselves where they also had a disappointing season last year, a change of manager, and Lee Johnson is still trying to put his own stamp on things.
“They have had quite a big turnover of players, similar to ourselves, so we are both in a similar state at the moment, albeit that we are in slightly better form.”
Hibs have won one of their last five league outings – the Leith side defeated Kilmarnock 1-0 in their most recent match – but Goodwin is taking nothing for granted ahead of tomorrow’s contest.
“It remains to be seen what Hibs team we will face on Saturday and the team selection that Lee Johnson goes with but I am not fooled by the poor run of form they are on at the moment,” he added.
“We are expecting a very difficult game. Easter Road has always been a great venue to go and play at and I have always enjoyed going there as a player and a manager. It is always a good atmosphere, a good pitch and a fantastic modern stadium.
“Our lads will certainly be excited for it and we just want to carry on the good run that we are on.
“We are on a half-decent unbeaten run at the moment. We have scored plenty of goals and we are not conceding too many of late either, which is important. Hopefully that will remain the case on Saturday.”
