Hibernian

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We asked and plenty of you decided Jamie McGrath has been Hibernian's player of the year.

The 29-year-old joined David Gray's side last summer and has been a standout in the middle of the pitch. With Hibs still battling for a European spot for next season, he could still have a huge part to play before the end of the season.

And we've taken a look at the stats behind his performances.

So far McGrath has played 31 league games for Hibs, scoring eight goals and setting up a further three. Those eight goals make him Hibs' top scorer and also the second-top scorer in the league when it comes to midfielders.

McGrath's 11 combined goals and assists is bettered only by Nygren and Rangers' Nicolas Raskin - when looking at midfielders - and is among the highest for all players in the top flight.

Of his four big chances, McGrath has scored three of them and has also created 48 chances - the most of any Hibs player and the seventh highest of any player in the league - and 29 of those have come from open play. The Irish international has also created five big chances, only Nicky Cadden has offered up more for Hibs.

If McGrath can come up with a few more goals and assists between now and the end of the season and help Hibs bag European football for next year it will be hard to look past the midfielder for Hibernian's player of the season.

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We asked for your views on who has been Hibernian's player of the season.

Here's what some of you said:

Michael: Jamie McGrath has had a really good first season for Hibs, chipping in with important goals and impressive displays in various positions. Warren O'Hora and Daniel Barlaser are also honourable mentions.

Andy: He's been out through injury but Josh Mulligan has been outstanding, and it's obvious he's sorely missed in recent weeks, with McGrath close behind him,.

Aidan: McGrath for me. European goals, derby goal, a powerhouse in the midfield and at left-back when needed there in the early part of the season.

Daniel: Our best player is by far Mulligan. We are missing him so much. But if we are talking currently playing it's between three - Nicky Cadden has been incredible at putting balls in the box but has also been out; McGrath has looked quite good but I feel he's better with Josh; and finally Owen Elding looks really good for his age. Lots of people would say Ante Suto is better but I think he's better coming off the bench than starting.

Thomas: Hibs player of the year has been McGrath - imaginative, with terrific close control and has the ability to beat a marker. Factor in Mulligan's lengthy absence and the stark reality is that the rest of the midfield are all either incapable of, or unwilling to try, turning an opponent and driving forward, opting instead for too many backwards and sideways passes.

Lee: Martin Boyle would get a nod in his final season with us but, like many this campaign, he's been a little inconsistent. For me, it's McGrath. It's the first name I'd put on the team sheet, not sure we've used him to his full potential though.

Hibs head coach David Gray is not surprised to see Miguel Chaiwa attracting interest from rival clubs, including repeated speculation linking the 21-year-old midfielder with a move to Celtic. (Edinburgh Evening News), external

Hibs still hope to lure on-loan Dan Barlaser back to Easter Road when the 29-year-old midfielder's Middlesbrough contract ends this summer, but Elie Youan will exit the Leith club along with fellow forward Martin Boyle. (Edinburgh Evening News), external

Hibs midfielder Josh Mulligan is "running out of weeks" to make his return from injury this season, but head coach David Gray thinks there is a "strong possibility" the Scotland international could still play. (Edinburgh Evening News), external

Read Thursday's Scottish Gossip in full.

It's a season that's perhaps been overshadowed by the success of their city rivals Hearts, but Hibernian could still secure a place in European football.

David Gray's side have already amassed more points than last term - when they finished third - with five games still to play.

There was some impressive business at Easter Road as well as existing players stepping up, but who has been the standout this season?

We want to know your choice for Hibs player of the year. Tell us here.

Celtic could face competition from a number of clubs should they pursue their interest in 21-year-old Hibernian midfielder Miguel Chaiwa this summer. (Football Insider), external

Read Wednesday's Scottish Gossip in full.

Matty Fairnie
Fan writer

We might still get fourth place this season but what a slog it's turning into.

Saturday's performance in Aberdeen started badly and got progressively worse.

We weren't helped by the red card flashed at Grant Hanley when Aberdeen were awarded their penalty. No complaints about the decision, it was poor play from Hanley, who's can usually be relied upon to steady things.

We could complain about the lack of a red card for Aberdeen's Emmanuel Gyamfi, who somehow got a yellow after referee David Dickinson had been sent to the VAR monitor with a recommendation to send Gyamfi off for (presumably) violent conduct.

Not that it mattered, we could still be playing now and I don't think the Aberdeen keeper would have got his gloves dirty. For a team with relegation hanging over them, the Dons won't have an easier afternoon.

Hibs have an annoying habit of letting the first 10 minutes set the tone for the rest of the game. We rarely go up through the gears to lift things when needed, so when we start as badly as we did on Saturday, you know the game isn't going to be pretty.

This is an issue David Gray must resolve. The goals have dried up (3-0 win last week aside), with three of our past four games ending without us finding the net.

Of those fixtures, we were unlucky not to score against Livingston but in the others we were lucky to get nil.

It's dreadful fare to watch and fans aren't going to be happy watching it for long.

Finally, a point on VAR. It is much decried in Scotland but Saturday showed how much it is needed. The referee missed Aberdeen's penalty (and by extension, the red card) and their second goal.

He also missed the strike from Gyamfi on Owen Elding, which should have been another key moment. That's three game-defining moments the on-field team got wrong.

Had Elding's shot gone in when he was incorrectly flagged offside, it would have also needed VAR to sort an on-field howler.

Of course, the referee still got one big call wrong but that was despite VAR, not because of it. Had he taken the VAR's guidance he would have walked off the pitch with all the major decisions in the game right, eventually.

You can find Matty Fairnie at Longbangers podcast, external

Hibernian and at least two other Scottish Premiership sides are interested in Besir Iseni, with the 25-year-old centre-half out of contract at Kosovan side KF Dukagjini in the summer. (R.org), external

Read more: Tuesday's Scottish football gossip

Hibernian must retain belief they can leapfrog Motherwell into fourth spot despite suffering defeat at Aberdeen on Saturday, says Sportscene pundit Steven Naismith.

A red card for defender Grant Hanley was followed by a double from former Hibs striker Kevin Nisbet as the struggling Dons recorded a much-needed victory.

That result, coupled with Motherwell's defeat at Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts, means Hibs remain three points behind the Fir Park side, who also have a superior goal difference.

Hibs will now have a two-week break before welcoming their city rivals to Easter Road in a seismic Edinburgh derby, kicking off their post-split fixtures.

And former Hearts boss Naismith says David Gray's men should go into that five-game finale with hope they can snatch fourth place.

"Hibs are still really in the fight for fourth," he said on BBC's Sportscene. "I don't think this result will dent their confidence too much.

"The derbies have lacked quality but had lots of entertainment in the past couple of years. I imagine the one in two weeks will be really good."

Watch all the highlights of Aberdeen's 2-0 win against Hibernian.

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Hibs boss David Gray feels his side can still challenge fourth-placed Motherwell for a European slot over the remainder of the season despite seeing a six-match unbeaten run come to an end.

The Edinburgh club remain three points behind Motherwell and Gray said: "We haven't lost any ground the way the results have gone, but we're another game down and it becomes more difficult because we're running out of games.

"With the split, everyone is playing the teams round about each other with everything to play for.

"We're chasing this European place and for the neutral it keeps it exciting. For us, there's no better game to come back to than the one we have (an Edinburgh derby against leaders Hearts).

"We'll dust ourselves down from today, and the players will be up for the next one because that's the one that everyone looks forward to."

We asked for your views on Hibernian's 2-0 defeat to Aberdeen. Here's what some of you said:

John: Why bring Martin Boyle on so late? Bringing Kai Andrews on instead of Josh Campbell is mind-blowing. Tactics were not right, nor was the referee's decision making.

Ringo: Any team that's desperate for a win must love playing Hibs because they always give them the three points. I'm not going to go on about yet another loss after a few chinks of light in recent games, Hibs players now owe it to the supporters and must give their all for a derby win. Anything else isn't good enough, it's been a terrible season of inconsistency.

Kenny: Poor performance. We keep giving David Gray the benefit of the doubt, but this type of performance is happening far too often. We looked like we were happy just to go through the motions and with Motherwell losing it was an ideal chance to match them on points. We deserved absolutely nothing from this game.

Bill: Gray is making bad decisions and costing us big time. He is not fielding the best players available, sticking to his favourites each week. If he does not waken up, we won't win a game in the top six play-offs, and more importantly can we trust him with these same duds next season?

Mark: Yes, the sending off didn't help but our passing from the back third was woeful! Where is our fast passing and in behind the defence ball that we used to do? We're too slow and too sloppy with our game plan. Fourth place is there for the taking if we can get these things right.

John S: Hibs were awful against a team with no wins in nine. No fight, ball control and passing was abysmal. Having a man sent off in 16 minutes doesn't help. Referee didn't help with some of his decisions, but that is no excuse for not performing.

Aberdeen eased their Scottish Premiership relegation concerns with their first league win since January, as Kevin Nisbet's double helped them see off 10-man Hibernian.

Read the full match report here

Have your say on the game via this link

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Hibernian head coach David Gray: "We lost the game which is a game we came into in a really good place.

"I think it will be dominated by decisions that happened within the game. I can't fault the effort of the players in terms of going down to 10 men. I think the sucker punch for us was probably the timing of the second goal.

"We probably didn't force Aberdeen to defend enough, even though we were down to 10 men, that's something we'll need to look at. The second goal was avoidable, the ball is clearly over the line, but the timing of that one killed any momentum we had going in towards the end of the game.

"We've not lost ground on Motherwell but we've lost the game so we're another game down which makes it more difficult. There were still a lot of things in the game we weren't as good as we can be, the decisions weren't the only reason we didn't win the game.

"We didn't carry enough of a threat when we went down to 10 men which can happen in any game so we need to look at that. There's no better game to come back to [than a derby]. It's now the top six, every game is going to be huge and no bigger than the one that's coming up."

On Grant Hanley's red card and resulting penalty: "I think he's unlucky. The timing of it, the wind, I think the initial foul is just outside the box but as Grant fell I can see why he gave it. It's definitely accidental but definitely a foul. That's one we have to just accept."

On the red card check for Emmanuel Gyamfi's foul on Owen Elding, Gray added: "The biggest thing for me is I saw it at the time and thought it was a foul.

"The fact the referee missed the foul was hugely frustrating for me. When VAR intervene they only do that because they believe it's a red card. As he goes over, on one hand credit with the referee for sticking to his guns. I'm not one for criticising, they've got a difficult job but when you see it again at full speed I think it would be in the soft category but I think it is a red card. Sped up it's a clear contact at the back of the head so for me it's the violent conduct."

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Hibs teenager Owen Elding has the potential to bring in a higher transfer fee than the £6m Kieron Bowie was sold for in January, reckons former Easter Road forward Tam McManus. (Daily Record - subscription required), external

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Aberdeen midfielder Dennis Geiger will have a late fitness test.

Centre-back Mats Knoester will return to training following his concussion on Monday, while Nicky Devlin, Kristers Tobers and Nick Suman remain out.

Right-back Nicky Cadden returns to the Hibernian squad.

But Rudi Molotnikov, Josh Mulligan and Munashe Garananga are unavailable.

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Hibs head coach David Gray expects a tough test for his side at Pittodrie but is also eager to embrace an opportunity to take a step closer to fourth place.

The Easter Road side are unbeaten in six games, and defeated Kilmarnock 3-0 last time out, meaning they are just three points behind fourth-placed Motherwell with six games left to play.

While Motherwell travel to face Premiership leaders Hearts, Hibs head to Pittodrie to face struggling Aberdeen and while Gray expects Stephen Robinson's side to be well-organised, he knows there's a chance to take another step forward.

"It's certainly a difficult game, they always are when they go up there," the Hibs head coach said. "But an opportunity for us because of Motherwell and Falkirk playing teams in the top six as well.

"I said it last week, the mindset won't change this week, which is that all we can control is ourselves. We go and do our job and if we can do that, whatever else happens we can't control.

"But we might move closer, we might move further away, it doesn't really matter, all we can do is our job."

Gray has seen how Aberdeen have been drawn deeper into relegation worries and are yet to win under their new manager but he says while it isn't a shock, he still believes they have a lot going for them and a point to prove.

"Nothing surprises me in Scottish football at all, if I'm being honest," he said.

"I think that's something I've come to learn pretty quickly across the piece. One thing I do know is they've got a lot of good players, a very experienced coach, a very successful coach. And he's gone in during the season, which is obviously a difficult time to come, a transitional period.

"So we're under no illusions of the tests that we're going to face. But we're going into it in a very positive frame of mind ourselves with three clean sheets in a row, and an opportunity to build on last weekend, which is what we want to do."

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• All four of Ante Suto's Scottish Premiership goals for Hibernian have come as a substitute, the joint-most goals from the bench of any player in the competition this season (Marko Lazetic also four).

• Hibernian have kept a clean sheet in each of their last three league games, last doing so four times in a row in the Scottish Premiership in March 2022 under Shaun Maloney - a run that was ended by a 3-1 defeat at Aberdeen.

• No side has lost more games in the Scottish Premiership this season than Aberdeen (18, level with Livingston), while it's their most league defeats in a single campaign since 2010-11 (22).

• Hibernian have won three of their last five league visits to Aberdeen (D1 L1), and are looking to win there successively for the first time since September 2004.

• Aberdeen have lost both of their two previous league meetings with Hibernian this season, but haven't lost three in a row against Hibs since December 2004, and last did so within a single league campaign in 2002-03.

Matty Fairnie
Fan writer

A 3-0 win on Saturday, coupled with Motherwell's defeat by Falkirk, has reopened the door for Hibs to chase down a fourth-place finish that looked out of reach just a couple of weeks ago.

Owen Elding scored Hibs' first goal in just 13 seconds, but if the speed at which Hibs got on the scoresheet was impressive, it was overshadowed by the youngster's performance.

Elding looks like a fantastic talent; he's just turned 20 and has benefited from playing men's football in Ireland from a young age.

He didn't look out of place at all facing the physical demands of a Scottish Premiership game and his style of play drew some loose comparisons with Wayne Rooney - nobody is saying he's at the level Rooney was at when he was 20, but Elding's style and natural ability to know where to be and what the next play is shows a footballing maturity well beyond his years.

Having lost Keiron Bowie for £7.5m in the January window, David Gray needed his recruitment team to plug the gap with an adequate replacement, and it looks like they did just that.

Along with Elding, the goal-scoring form of Ante Suto off the bench has given Gray an attacking threat in Bowie's absence.

The game itself on Saturday showed Gray's learning on the job.

When Killie last visited Easter Road, Hibs started with some of the best football we'd played in ages to take a two-goal lead, before a lapse in concentration let Killie back into the game, which ended in a 2-2 draw.

There were a lot of grumbles from the Hibs support as the game was, in all honesty, pretty brutal once Hibs went two up.

The third goal helped lift some of the ire, but wins like this do little to win over Gray's doubters.

I prefer to give him credit for ensuring the points stayed in Leith, this was progression, even if it wasn't pretty, and Gray extended an impressive home record in the process.

You can find Matty Fairnie at Longbangers podcast, external

Celtic's interest in Hibernian midfielder Miguel Chaiwa has moved beyond early scouting, with discussions between the clubs about the 21-year-old taking place both in January and more recently. (Celts Are Here), external

Read Tuesday's Scottish Gossip in full

Jonathan Sutherland
Sportscene presenter

GK: Raphael Sallinger (Hibernian)

Almost seems to get in by default at the moment because of another weekend lacking any outstanding goalkeeping performances. A couple of saves and a clean sheets means the Austrian gets the gloves again.

RB: Dujon Sterling (Rangers)

A solid performer at Ibrox and nabbed a goal in the vital 4-2 win over Dundee United.

CB: Luke Graham (Dundee)

A colossus at the back for the Dark Blues all afternoon. Unfortunate to be on the losing side.

CB: Alex Gogic (St Mirren)

Seldom a weekend goes by when this team of the week favourite doesn't find his way into the starting XI. His brilliant headed goal against Aberdeen and a clean sheet earns him another call-up.

LB: Jordan Obita (Hibernian)

Set up the goal for Felix Passlack after Owen Elding's pass unlocked the Kilmarnock defence. An effective presence down the Hibs left.

CM: Felix Passlack (Hibernian)

Another big goal for the former Borussia Dortmund man. The German has a knack for arriving in the box at just the right time.

CM: Stevie May (Livingston)

Once upon a time had the flowing locks and the killer touch of a goal machine number nine in his glorious St Johnstone era. These days he has refashioned himself into one of Livingston's most versatile players.

Age and injuries take their toll on all players but his precision finish and general clever play were fundamental for Livingston in their draw with Hearts.

FW: Owen Elding (Hibernian)

What a prospect he looks for Hibs. The 20-year-old who arrived from Sligo Rovers opened the scoring after 13 seconds against Kilmarnock and his pass to unlock the Killie defence for the Passlack goal was a measured thing of beauty.

FW: Lawrence Shankland (Hearts)

Powered in his headed goal and looked the part all afternoon against Livingston. Full of invention, poise and confidence. But, crucially, it's his killer instinct in the box that counts most.

With the national team struggling for goals, will he be Scotland's go-to man for the World Cup opener against Haiti?

FW: Claudio Braga (Hearts)

Player of the season? A joy to watch, every part of his game looks great right now. Never a doubt the goal would be scored when the chance came his way.

Could the partnership with Shankland be the key ingredient that gets the Hearts title tilt over the line? Earns extra points for me for his desire to stay on his feet in the box rather than look for a penalty.

FW: Calvin Miller (Falkirk)

A contender for the Scotland squad? The national team could do with a creative winger with pace and Calvin Miller has been providing that all season in the Premiership for Falkirk.

The stats add up as well, seven goals and 10 assists in all competitions.