John Hughes hails 'fantastic' Francis Dickoh debut

Hibs manager John Hughes left Hogg out of the side to play Inverness Caledonian Thistle, installing new signing Dickoh at centre-half alongside Sol Bamba. Hibs only drew 1-1 after having several chances to wrap up the three points, but Hughes was impressed by Copenhagen-born Dickoh, who offers the greater physical presence he has sought for some time in his team.

"I can see real positives (like] the performance of big Dickoh last week," Hughes said yesterday. "He's going to be a big player for us - he was fantastic."

Dickoh certainly helped the back four look more assured, and it was only after Michael Hart went off that Hibs conceded the equaliser. If the defender keeps up his good start Hogg will find it hard to force his way back in, but Hughes has been impressed by the way the Englishman has responded to losing his place.

"He's been training great," the manager continued. "We played a bounce match the other day and he was in there organising and stuff. He's training in a right good manner, and it has to be like that. I feel for him. I really, really do feel for him. Hoggy's an honest boy. He's a real good professional and he puts everything into it. He's probably found himself hard done by, and rightly so. He didn't do too much to get left out.

"But when you come in here that's the decisions you've got to make. I said 'I'm going with big Francis'. It's unfortunate you can only play 11 on the park. It's the competition I want for places."

Hughes could do with that kind of competition at the other end of the pitch, as an injury to Darryl Duffy has left him short of strikers. New recruit Valdas Trakys could start alongside Colin Nish up front in tomorrow's home game against Hamilton Accies, but Hughes believes the two have similar strengths and ideally would play either one alongside another forward.

"He is not ready to go yet, but we may have to throw him in at the deep end," he said of the Lithuanian. "He is a target man and he will play up there and use his body well and link up well, and, watching his movement, there are goals in him.

"He needs two weeks of hard work, though, and some heavy training sessions. He's still a good bit away, but my hand is forced a bit and we only had Danny Galbraith as a forward player on the bench last weekend. I see Valdas as someone who will fight for the position with big Nishy, with Darryl Duffy playing off him."

Trakys, who numbers Kaunas among his former clubs, knows several of his compatriots who play or have played for Hearts, and Hughes claimed they helped convince the striker to sign on at Easter Road."The Lithuanians at Hearts actually helped us seal this deal as he is friendly with them. He played alongside the Hearts boys at Kaunas and they spoke well of the manager at Hibs and the club. His enthusiasm to jump on a plane and come over and put himself on show was good enough for me, and he did well in a bounce game."

The draw with Caley Thistle made it seven home games in a row without a win for Hibs. That was progress of a sort, as at least it ended a run of six straight losses, but Hughes, for all he claims it is business as usual, knows the pressure will be on his team to win well against Hamilton.

"The football, spirit, effort and commitment is certainly there - we just need to be quicker in the last quarter. If we play like we did against Inverness Caley Thistle against Hamilton, when we created chances, then we will be okay and we will get that home win. I'm not pushing the panic buttons yet as we didn't do too much wrong against Caley Thistle. We just need to take our chances when we create them and speed things up.

"This tough spell could be the making of us, as last season I always said we were punching above our weight and this year was going to be a bit more difficult. This is a test of our resolve.

"I don't think there is pressure on us if Hibs fail to beat Hamilton, but pressure goes with the territory if you are not winning football matches. The supporters need to appreciate the bigger picture and they don't always know what is going on behind the scenes at this club, but the board of directors know what I am trying to do and they are behind me all the way."