DEAN SHIELS admits he has no idea what to expect when Hibs travel to face Motherwell this weekend – and that's before a ball is even kicked at Fir Park.
The Lanarkshire side were forced to farm out their lodgers Gretna to play at Livingston's Almondvale last weekend because of the horrendous state of the surface at their own stadium.
A season of games every single weekend, combined with some of th
e wettest conditions the country has seen in recent years, has taken its toll on the pitch and resulted in a number of postponements.
However, having worked over the last fortnight to rectify the problems, Motherwell have been given the go-ahead to host this weekend's game against the Easter Road side – with players and fans alike left to hope that the weather holds out.
Shiels and Co won't know what condition the park will be in until they turn up a couple of hours before kick-off, but he's hoping that the surface will be in a decent enough state to allow both sides to play some football.
"We were talking about this in the dressing-room and we don't have a clue what the pitch is going to be like. We know that they've done a lot of work but they had to play the Gretna game at Livingston so you do wonder a bit. "The first time we will find out what kind of condition it is in will be when we arrive at the ground an hour or so before the game kicks off.
"Hopefully the pitch will be okay and if they say that it is playable then obviously we won't have much of a choice.
"We like to get the ball down and play football and obviously like a good surface to help it along – as do Motherwell, they also like to try to play a bit – so hopefully it will be in a good enough condition for both sides.
"I spoke to a couple of Celtic players and they were saying that the pitch at Almondvale was in really good condition but obviously we weren't able to play there because Livingston have a game there themselves this weekend.
"Even Easter Road has been bad lately, there are a lot (of pitches] in the same state – even Ibrox was bad last weekend. It's just the way that the weather has been lately. But good or bad, we still have to go there in the same frame of mind.
"Obviously we all want to impress and play the right way but at this stage of the season there's nothing more important than the result so I would be more than happy to take a bad performance and all three points."
Shiels netted Hibs' late consolation goal in the 2-1 defeat at Ibrox at the weekend and has been enjoying something of a renaissance under Mixu Paatelainen.
The wiry little frontman was posted missing for much of the early part of this season after falling out of favour with then-boss John Collins, who was set to free the young Irishman in the January transfer window. However, just days after Shiels being told he would be allowed to leave the club, it was Collins himself who was heading for the exit door.
Paatelainen clearly believes that Shiels has something to offer his side having included him in his squad in the majority of the games he has been in charge of and Shiels is loving life under his new boss: "It's going well for me right now, I think that I have settled back into the side and I've scored a couple of goals. I'm enjoying it, it is sort of like a new start for me and things have been going well so far.
"I have always had self-belief because I think that, if you don't believe in yourself, then no-one else will. I have always had that and I think it is important if you are going to do well at something."
If Shiels and Co. can apply those rules to the run-in to the SPL campaign then they could find themselves in a position to qualify for the UEFA Cup this season after missing out last time around.
The 22-year-old feels that Paatelainen's introduction has given the club's players a huge lift and that every week he is stamping more of his own influence on the way the team plays their football. And, having seen his side slip to eighth in the SPL table at one point, Shiels acknowledges that winning a UEFA Cup place would signify a massive turnaround in fortunes under their new manager: "It would give everyone a huge lift to qualify for the UEFA Cup, especially when you consider the really bad period that we went through earlier in the season.
"I think that, before Saturday's defeat to Rangers, we had won six out of seven of our previous games and the form since the new manager came in has been great.
"That's quite an achievement when you consider that the manager has not been at the club that long and we are all still getting used to one another and how he wants us to play.
"I don't think that we will see the real benefits until the start of next season when we have bedded in a bit and have got a good pre-season under our belts as well.
"It is going to take him some time to fully put his mark on the side, he is already doing it but for him to have the team playing exactly the way that he wants it will get closer and closer."
And as well as Paatelainen, Shiels reckons that January signing Colin Nish could also have a big part to play in swinging the UEFA Cup barometer in Hibs' favour. "We were right down there and it would be a great achievement if we could get the UEFA Cup place.
"It would give the players a great boost – everyone wants to play in Europe and the fans really deserve it as well as they have given us great backing this season.
"There's a bit of a buzz about the place, Steven Fletcher is in the Scotland squad this week and I think that people are recognising that we are doing well. I think we needed to add players in January and the boys who have come in have done really well.
"Big Nishy in particular has really made a difference because he gives us something different and he has settled in really well to the side and scored a few goals as well.
"He has adjusted really well to how we play and I think that he can be a big factor in helping us get into third place."
After travelling to Motherwell on Saturday the Easter Road side host St Mirren next week before the SPL splits and Shiels would love his side to head into the final five games of the season gracing that coveted third place spot.
He believes that would give Hibs the vital edge in the race for the final European spot through the league table and he continued: "If you can go into the top six in third place, with a couple of points behind you, it would give you a great advantage.
"That's something that we are aiming for.
"Motherwell have to play Rangers and Celtic as their games in hand and then again after the league splits – and hopefully we can capitalise on that.
"They've maybe lost a little bit of form lately and hopefully we can put the pressure on them while they are down. Hopefully we can go there and score first and that will affect their confidence even more."
The full article contains 1309 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
