Stevie Mallan has say on his Hibs awards and desire to repay fans

Stevie Mallan won Player of the Year and Players Player of the Year

Being voted the supporters’ favourite player in his first season at Easter Road was beyond the midfielder’s wildest dreams – but only minutes later he was astounded to hear his name being called out again, this time to receive another stunning accolade – that of his own team-mates.

There is, of course, some unfinished business to be taken care of as Paul Heckingbottom’s players seek to overcome their outsider tag and claim a possible place in next season’s Europa League.

But, admitted Mallan, his own season, in which he has missed just one game through injury following a miserable season at Barnsley, has already surpassed his expectations.

However, as well as things have gone, the 23-year-old insisted it has merely whetted his appetite for next season, one in which he believes Hibs will push on following the successes of the past three years.

“Coming off a season where I played only nine first-team games to one where I have played more than 40 has surpassed my expectations,” he said. “To get these awards was fantastic, I couldn’t have asked for any more. Now I want to repeat that next season and do even better.”

Although he hit the ground running, scoring four goals in his first two matches as Hibs brushed aside Faroese minnows NSI Runavik, Mallan conceded that his form, along with the team in general, had dipped mid-season, but with the team now unbeaten in ten league games under Heckingbottom, he believes Hibs can take the battle for Europe down to the final game of the season.

Now with 13 goals and 11 assists to his name, he said: “When I came to the club I wanted to start with a bang and let the fans see what I was all about. They don’t want to see you taking time to bed in.

“I felt I did that although I maybe kind of cooled a wee bit towards the Christmas break. I was disappointed in myself and the team as well, we hit a poor run which was disappointing but since the new manager has come in I think the team has picked up and my performances have picked up as well which makes the last three games very interesting.”

Heckingbottom has talked of Hibs being “handicapped” by the points dropped during that run in which they won just three times in 17 matches as they slumped to eighth in the table and Mallan looks back on that spell with some regret.

“You look at those games, St Mirren and Dundee at home, Livingston away, even Aberdeen, matches where we if we’d seen things out or played a bit better we would be in a  healthier position. But there’s no point looking back, we have to take the positives from the last couple of months into next season which is going to be massive for us.

“I think we are on the right track and I think the fans would say that as well. We have finished the season off very well, the team has come on and since the manager has come in we’ve been on a strong run. We want to keep that going and start next season the way we have finished this one.”

Hibs’ hopes of overhauling Kilmarnock and taking fourth place, which would be enough for Europe provided Celtic defeat city rivals Hearts in the final of the Scottish Cup, took a dive in last weekend’s derby draw, a result which left them four points behind the Rugby Park outfit rather than just two.

Conceding it was another instance of points dropped, Mallan, however, argued that with a trip to Ayrshire to come following Sunday’s clash with Rangers at Ibrox, all is not yet lost.

He said: “Of course it makes it more difficult, that little bit harder and obviously we have to rely on Kilmarnock dropping points but we have to look after ourselves.

“We both have tricky matches to play, the game at Rugby Park could prove key, a real six-pointer but we can’t afford to look beyond Rangers.”

Sunday’s match could prove to be something of a “dead rubber” as far as Rangers are concerned should Celtic clinch the title by taking at least a point from tomorrow’s match against Aberdeen, but while he agreed he and his team-mates must capitalise on any sense of deflation around Ibrox should that be the case, Mallan anticipates as tough a 90 minutes as ever.

He said: “We can only focus on winning every game as we always do regardless of who we are playing. We’re unbeaten [in the league] since the new manager came in, unbeaten against Rangers this season so we have the confidence you get playing in a good team that’s winning.

“It’s a big game, at Ibrox, live on the TV and with their fans on your back – the games you love as a player.”