Hibs kid Paul Hanlon tells of lessons learned at St Johnstone

PAUL HANLON'S stay at McDiarmid Park was short, encompassing just three matches and yet the Hibs kid has fond memories of his loan spell with St Johnstone.

On the fringes of then manager Mixu Paatelainen's plans, the young defender spent a month in Perth a year ago, playing a small part in Saints' drive towards the First Division title and promotion to the SPL.

Tomorrow night the 20-year-old will return to the Fair City, anxious to catch up with the friends he made but equally determined to ensure there is no old pals' act as he seeks to help Hibs once again tighten their grip on third place in the table.

David Goodwillie's last-gasp winner for Dundee United against St Mirren allied to Hibs' defeat by Rangers 24 hours later has narrowed the gap in the race to be "best of the rest" to a single point in the Easter Road outfit's favour.

John Hughes' side, however, have a game in hand, this rearranged clash with St Johnstone representing the chance to enjoy a four-point advantage once again, although Hanlon knows from first-hand knowledge it won't be an easy task.

He said: "I thoroughly enjoyed my wee spell with Saints, their manager Derek McInnes was very good to me when I was there and I got to know a few people I'm looking forward to seeing again.

"Other than training at McDiarmid Park one day with the Scotland Under-21 squad this will be my first time back since then and we all know the importance of tomorrow's match.

"It's a massive game for us with United now right on our tail and obviously we'll be looking to take all three points. However, Saints have been going pretty well at home so it isn't an easy place to go.

"But we'll be looking to play our normal game, to start well, hopefully get an early goal and take it from there."

While Hibs enjoyed a 3-0 win over the Perth club in Edinburgh earlier in the season, McInnes' players dumped them out of the Co-operative Insurance Cup at Easter Road just a few days later, ample warning, as Hanlon has stated, of the dangers which lie ahead although Saints haven't won in their last four matches since beating Hearts at home.

Hibs, though, will be travelling anxious to push the memory of Sunday's 3-0 defeat at Ibrox out of their minds and to refocus on the race for Europe.

And that, Hanlon, declared, won't be difficult to do, insistent he and his team-mates can take heart from their performance at Ibrox, claiming the final scoreline, aided by Kris Boyd's contentious penalty and an injury time goal from former Hibs striker Kenny Miller, didn't cast a true reflection on proceedings.

Pointing out how Hughes had made his intentions clear with an audacious 4-2-4 formation, Hanlon said: "The manager isn't shy about playing attacking football, it's worked well for us so far so why go changing it?

"We'd gone in at half-time with the game goal-less but given our performance we honestly felt we could go on to win the match.

"But they got the first goal pretty sharp after the interval which put an entirely different complexion on the game, it got their crowd going and gave them a bit of impetus. However, at the end of the day I don't think any of us felt there were three goals in it."

Hanlon admitted he was only too well aware of the part an Old Firm crowd can play in a match, particularly in Glasgow following Hibs' last-gasp win over Celtic just a couple of weeks ago. He said: "You know the longer the game goes at 0-0 at either Ibrox or Celtic Park the crowd will start to get on their backs. Rangers and Celtic have that pressure of having to win in every game, something we obviously want to try to do ourselves.

"At Celtic Park the other week we became conscious of their supporters getting nervous as the game went into the last ten minutes, it's something you can use to your advantage but, unfortunately, we weren't able to do the same again this time."

Ironically, it was another ex-Hibee who did the damage, Steven Whittaker lashing home his tenth goal of the season and, after Kenny Miller had gone down under Sol Bamba's challenge to win that penalty, the game was as good as over. Hanlon said: "We'd been looking to push on after the interval but our passing became a bit slack for some reason. It was disappointing to lose the first goal but, even then, Merouane Zemmama had a shot which Allan McGregor only just stopped going over the line.

"But they got that penalty straight away. I didn't get a good view of what happened, I'd stepped out to close down Steven Davis as I thought he was going to shoot and turned my head just in time to see Miller going down.

"A few of the lads said there wasn't much in it but the referee has his job to do, he saw it as a penalty and we just have to get on with it. The game was gone after that but it was a bit unfortunate Kevin slipped and hurt himself to let them in for a third one."

Hanlon himself was left to ponder on what might have been after seeing Sasa Papac nod his header off the line with the game still deadlocked and Rangers boss Walter Smith himself admitting the first goal could well be the deciding factor. The Hibs youngster said: "Zouma put over a great corner to the back post and I just came on to it. When you are young you are taught to head the ball downwards, I did that but there was Papac on the line."

Despite Hibs losing three goals, Hanlon earned the praise of boss Hughes for another accomplished performance in the centre of defence, the youngster admitting that he can take confidence from his displays against the likes of Marc-Antoine Fortune, Georgios Samaras and now Boyd and Miller. He said: "I was very disappointed to be dropped for the St Mirren game after playing against Celtic but the gaffer has shown faith in me by putting me back in at Ibrox, a big stage and a big game."

Hanlon showed his confidence in both matches against the Old Firm with a willingness to take the ball out of defence but, he insisted, he has no intentions of modelling himself on Rangers stopper Madjid Bougherra, who often appears as an auxiliary right winger.

He laughed: "Bougherra does that ten or 15 times a game, if I can do it once I'm happy. My first job is to defend, but if I can start an attack then I'll try to do so."