JOHN RANKIN today called on his Easter Road team-mates to follow the lead of skipper Rob Jones by getting among the goals.
The powerful header from the towering defender which sparked a tremendous second-half fightback against Aberdeen was, incredibly, Jones' first goal in 54 matches, a run which stretched back some 18 months.
But, just as astonishingly, it was the
first SPL goal claimed by a player other than one of Hibs' much admired strikeforce of Steven Fletcher, Colin Nish and Derek Riordan since Paul Hanlon claimed what proved to be the winner in a five-goal thriller against Falkirk in mid-August.
While Joe Keenan, Dean Shiels and Steve Pinau all netted in the Co-operative Cup clash with Morton, midfield ace Rankin admitted it was high time others in Mixu Paatelainen's side eased the burden on Fletcher, Nish and Riordan, who have been responsible for 13 of Hibs' 15 league goals this season.
He said: "We aren't scoring enough goals from different areas of the park. I'm an attacking midfield player and I don't have a goal to my name this season. Dean hasn't got a league goal, Alan O'Brien is another – there's a lot of us who haven't scored.
"That's disappointing, not only from a personal point of view, but from a team perspective as well."
Recalling how it was a ricochet from his shot from outside the Aberdeen penalty area which was turned into the net by Fletcher for his fifth goal of the season, one which gave Hibs what at one stage looked a most unlikely point, Rankin also admitted Paatelainen's players need to try their luck from distance.
He said: "If you are prepared to have a go from a bit of a way out there's always the chance of a deflection as happened last week or the ball hitting an opponent's hands in the penalty box and perhaps we also need to get more crosses in."
Rankin argued, however, that if results had been going Hibs' way, rather than Paatelainen's players having embarked on a run of six matches without a win, he wouldn't be having such a discussion.
He said: "There's all sorts of things which run through your mind when you have not been on a great run. You start picking on things that are not there to be picked on, things you wouldn't think of if you were winning.
"You look for reasons to try to help yourself which isn't a bad thing, if we are all discussing what's going on that shows we are trying to get through it together." And, that said, Rankin insisted Jones' goal and the subsequent fightback against the Dons might just be the spark Hibs need to get their season back on track, revealing last weekend's draw felt more like a win given the timing of Fletcher's equaliser. He said: "The way it happened, scoring with the last kick of the ball having been 2-0 down it felt almost as if we had won a cup, a fairytale.
"But when you see my shot deflected, then Sol Bamba blocked and Fletch's follow-up stopped all in the space of a few seconds you do feel it's not going to go your way. So to see Fletch squeeze it in off the post at the second attempt was fantastic."
Insisting every player at the club was fully behind what boss Paatelainen was seeking to achieve and that his team-mates' spirit and determination could never be called into question, Rankin revealed he believes the remarkable rise of Dundee United in recent weeks can act as an inspiration to Hibs.
He said: "When we played them at the beginning of September they were bottom with only a couple of points.
"All of a sudden they found themselves third and then Hearts went from eighth to third with three wins.
"That's what can happen in this league because so many teams are evenly matched.
"I think it is going to be very tight this season and it could go right down to the wire before the split with probably three or four teams waiting to find out whether they'll be in the top or bottom six."
Rankin admitted, though, that Hibs had made life difficult for themselves by conceding too many easily-avoided goals such as those which gifted Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Dundee United and then Aberdeen two-goal leads.
He said: "It's been individual mistakes, not all made by the same person. No-one can say they haven't made a mistake and it's been costing us dearly. If we knew why it would be an easy life and if it hadn't been for these errors we'd have been right up there at this moment."
