Hibs’ striker James Keatings scored his fifth goal in two games last night as Hibs moved to within two points of Rangers in the race for the Championship, but the former Hamilton and Hearts’ striker says that the victory was more important than his personal glory.
Keatings scored his first hat-trick for the club in the 4-1 win over St Mirren in Paisley and carried on where he left off against Livingston.
Both goals were created by John McGinn and the striker was quick to praise his colleague and commiserate with his strike partner Jason Cummings who was unlucky not to get his name on the score sheet.
Speaking after the game Keatings told Hibernian TV:“I’m just delighted the team has won, that’s the most important thing. It was a bonus last week to get a hat-trick.
“I’m not disappointed to not get it tonight. I had a few chances to get a few more goals, but getting three points was the main thing tonight.
“In training we work on these things, in and around the box and John (McGinn) is adding these balls to his game. It’s good as a striker to see a midfielder coming forward who is able to see the runs that you are making to find you round the box.
“Jason has scored eight in eight games and he is disappointed that he wasn’t able to carry that on but it’s about getting the three points at the end of the game.
“We weren’t at out best tonight. I thought we were a bit lackadaisical in the first half and we’ve managed to come out in the second half and lift it a bit. In the first half we didn’t play well but we created chances and we knew we had to lift our performance and that’s what we did.”
Keatings almost grabbed the match ball in the 81st minute with a spectacular overhead kick but his effort went narrowly wide. He continued: “Dave (Gray) got to the bye line and I’ve managed to pick up an area in the box and I’ve seen the ball coming in. It was behind me so it was the only way I was able to get a shot toward the goal. I managed to get a connection and it was disappointing to see it go past.”
Hibs travel to Alloa on Saturday.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
