Chaos or concern - Hanley's striker cameo poses questions for Hibs

Published25 October 2026

Highlights: Hibernian v Celtic

25/10/26

With eight minutes to go at Easter Road on Sunday, Hibs needed a goal to salvage something from their Scottish Premiership match against Celtic.

Head coach Marink Reedijk turned to his bench in search of a spark and summoned old head Grant Hanley, tasking the grizzled centre-back with playing up front.

It was a damning indictment of the options available to Reedijk and also a sign of slight desperation after two defeats in his opening two matches in charge.

Hanley did have something of an impact during his short cameo. He won one header which led to a chance for Josh Mulligan and was close to getting on the end of a deflected effort from Rabbi Matondo.

Ultimately, if Hanley had scored or created a Hibs equaliser, Reedijk would have been hailed as a genius. As it was, they lost 2-1 and remain bottom of the Scottish Premiership.

"I saw that we struggled to get the momentum. Celtic tried to play the game out and I wanted to change something to get a little bit of chaos," Reedijk said when asked for his thinking behind the substitution.

"Eventually I think it worked, I think [Hanley] did a fantastic job because at the end of the day he was a handful for the two defenders and they didn't know what to do about him."

Celtic restore four-point lead with narrow win at Hibs

Celtic restore four-point lead with narrow win at Hibs

Former Hibs midfielder Scott Allan says the fact Reedijk felt a need to make the change is a concern.

"The biggest surprise was the impact Grant Hanley had up front," Allan said. "That would also be a concern if you're a Hibs fan because that's probably the impact they were looking for from Ante Suto.

"I thought there was a real lack of quality within the Hibs side throughout.

"I refuse to take a positive that Grant Hanley coming up front for the last 10 minutes and being a target man is something you want to be talking about.

"Hibs have to be better than that as your option to try and get back into a game. I understand certain times call for a bit of chaos, but that is not for me. They've got to be better than that."

Suto came on 15 minutes before Hanley and failed to have any sort of meaningful impact on the game.

Suto and Nathan Lowe are the two strikers in the Hibs squad suited to lead the line. Martin Boyle pulled out of the side on the morning of the game through illness, while goalscorer Owen Elding and record signing Thibault Klidje are different types of forwards.

The club's fanbase have expressed dissatisfaction with sporting director Malky Mackay and the recruitment made under his watch.

Until January, Reedijk is stuck with the tools at his disposal and given Hibs are bottom of the table, that is a massive worry.

Allan was asked if he has seen any improvements since Reedijk replaced former head coach David Gray.

"For me, no," he said. "Do they look like they're trying to change the style of play? We've heard a lot of talk about it, but I haven't really seen it. Moving forward, Hibs have to start winning games of football."

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Football

Scottish Football

Scottish Premiership

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• Published18 June 2023

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Published18 June 2023