Hibs Exclusive: 'Big game player' can make difference in Rangers Cup clash

Myziane Maolida has been backed to continue his career revival with a stand-out performance in Sunday’s Scottish Cup quarterfinal – and underline his credentials as a “big game player.” And Hibs boss Nick Montgomery says Rangers should expect to face a much sharper threat from the French attacker now that he’s up to speed with Scottish football.

Maolida has scored four goals from just six starts in green-and-white, the January signing impressing as a left winger capable of driving into the centre forward position – or starting through the middle. A 10 million Euro signing for Nice when he moved from Lyon while still in his teens, the 25-year-old is on loan from Bundesliga 2 side Hertha Berlin, having been demoted to their B team in the German regional leagues.

Montgomery says he has full confidence in the Comoros international, whose limited game time before joining Hibs included scoring a wonder goal against Ghana in a World Cup qualifier back in November, and his ability to rise to the big occasion in a home tie with the potential to transform the season, the gaffer declaring: “He’s definitely a big game player. Because he’s a top player.

“Kilmarnock away, two weeks in, a game where we’ve played really well but conceded two poor goals, we needed to get back into game. If you can come on against Kilmarnock away, on a plastic pitch, and do what he did by scoring a great goal there, if you can do it against Dundee at home, that’s a top player. Not just about doing it in the big games but doing it in every single game.

“He’s a player you can give the ball and know that something is going to happen. And he’s very unselfish, as well.”

Maolida made his Hibs debut against Rangers in January, looking completely off the pace in makeshift starting XI swept aside by three goals to nil at Easter Road. Monty admitted that he had no option but to throw the former France Under-21 forward in at the deep end, acknowledging: “It took him a few weeks to get used to the physicality.

“He played against Rangers right away, and I knew he wasn’t ready. But we’re mid-season. The only way to get him ready is to play games – and what a great game to throw him into, not for a reality check, but an introduction.

“We were saying to him: ‘Look, this is one of the best teams in the league. You’re not fit. But we’re going to throw you in. And we’re going to keep playing you until you get fit.’ He has improved every day in training.

“Some of the stuff we see in training is special because he’s a special player. Looking at him in games, he’s fitter now, the boys are getting used to having him there – him and Jordan Obita have developed a really good understanding on that left hand side.

“But he’s versatile enough to play centrally, he can play on the right. And I think he’s a big player for us from now until the end of the season.

“When we spoke to Myziane in January, it was clear that he wanted to come and prove some people wrong. He also needed games, having gone three months without playing much, apart from international football.

“If you see the goal he scored against Ghana, for Comoros, when you see a player of that ability, why couldn’t he come to Hibs and be a success? We waited until the last week of the window; we were patient. When it became a reality, I knew if we got him in and gave him a couple of weeks, he was going to be a real player for us.

“His attitude has been outstanding. He needed a home. He needed a bit of love. And he needed to be around a group of players where he felt comfortable.”