A Saints win tomorrow would be a huge boost as we head into the international break. While a draw with Hibs would not be the end of the world, it would take a large weight off the shoulders of the players and new management if we could get that first win out of the way early doors - especially after what happened on Wednesday night. A tally of four points after three games would be pretty decent and would set us up nicely for the games after the internationals which, in theory, will be easier. However, Hibs are a good side and it seems we haven't beaten them in over two and a half years, so it won't be easy.
It will be interesting to see how Danny Lennon responds to the defeat to Ross County during the week and there will almost certainly be changes to the team. I was quite surprised to see both Lee Mair and Craig Dargo start during the week and play for most of the game. The pair are only just back from injury, so asking them to play twice in four days is perhaps a bit much - especially as Mair missed all the pre-season friendlies. It would therefore not be a surprise to see at least one of them missing from the starting line-up tomorrow as a result of their midweek exertions.
The problem Lennon has at the moment is his options are fairly limited. Assuming Steven Thomson, David Barron and Paul McQuade are still out, the only first team players he can call upon who didn't start during the week are Garry Brady, Steven Robb and David van Zanten. It's fair to say they've been pretty poor this season and wouldn't necessarily be an improvement. One option could be to drop one of the central defensive pairing of Mair and John Potter and move Marc McAusland or Darren McGregor in there while bringing Vanzy or Robb into the side, but that's almost tinkering for the sake of it. Ironically, after our problems ahead of the Celtic game, the most likely changes are up front. There's a possibility Gareth Wardlaw could be fit, which would be a huge boost, but it might be a bit much for him to start so soon. The other option is to bring the youngsters in, but they're having their own injury problems just now!
Hibs are a team who seem to have developed a reputation for playing attacking football in recent seasons, regardless of who is in charge. Sometimes it is a myth, but when you look at the offensive players they have at their disposal it probably isn't at the moment. Derek Riordan and Anthony Stokes is probably the best strikeforce in the SPL outside the Old Firm, the pair managing nearly 40 goals between them this season. They both have a reputation for having problems off the field, but Stokes seems to have resolved those now that he is working with Hughes again. As if that wasn't worrying enough, they also have Colin Nish, a big, brutish striker who is also quite handy at chipping in with a few goals. The threats continue to come in midfield thanks to John Rankin (squiggler anyone?), Danny Galbraith, Lewis Stevenson and the talented Liam Miller.
Hibs also have a reputation for having hopeless goalkeepers, such as Yves Ma-Kalambay and Zibi Malkowski. However, at long last they seem to have resolved that problem after Hughes signed a couple of keepers who are actually pretty good. The pick of them is Mark Brown, who had an unsuccessful time at Celtic but did well at Kilmarnock last season. He should prove to be a good acquisition and should inspire the defensive line. Hughes also has Graeme Smith, who used to play for Motherwell, and Graham Stack, who used to be good in Football Manager, if Brown has a few howlers.
In front of them the Hibs defence is pretty solid these days. Chris Hogg has developed into a pretty decent defender in recent years and he has Ian Murray alongside him, who adds his experience after spells at Norwich and Rangers. I'm not a fan of Sol Bamba, but other people seem to rate him and he even made it into the Ivory Coast's World Cup squad, so he must have some talent. In addition, Hughes also added Michael Hart - who used to play for Aberdeen - and Norwich's David Stephens over the summer, while young Paul Hanlon should develop into a good player in the next few years.