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Will Fish‘s run of form continued on Saturday as he netted to secure an important three points for Hibernian.
The 20 year old is currently on loan in Scotland and has helped the Edinburgh club work up the table, going unbeaten in five since being given a run of games.
With his birthday just two days ago, the former United academy captain bagged himself the ultimate birthday present with the opening goal in a 2-0 win over Kilmarnock.
The win follows victories against European contenders Aberdeen and St. Mirren, which has seen Hibernian catapult up the table into fourth place which earns a qualifying berth for the Europa Conference League.
WILL FISH SCORES FOR THE HIBEES! pic.twitter.com/5994HAFO4v
— Hibernian Football Club (@HibernianFC) February 18, 2023
After what was a tumultuous first half of the season where Fish saw little playing time, the centre back never gave up hope of breaking his way into Lee Johnson’s side.
Speaking before the match against Kilmarnock, Fish regaled about how he has turned it around after his disastrous debut against bitter rivals Hearts where he was thrust into an unusual right back role and unfortunately made a costly mistake.
Fish told Edinburgh News “It was tough at the time and I think we were going through a tough spell as a team, but it shows you how quickly football can change. You need to stick with it and there is always another game to put it right.”
“Every player, especially at a young age, is going to experience something like that. It can’t be all plain sailing. Not in a good way obviously, but I’m glad it happened to me when it did.”
Manchester United have been keeping close tabs on the highly rated prospect’s time in Scotland, in particular fellow United academy graduate Darren Fletcher who hails from Mayfield, just outside of Edinburgh.
Now the technical director at United, speaking on Fletcher, Fish said “He’s a top guy and he’s got a good footballing brain so he gives some good advice and it’s nice to get that from someone who has experienced it at the very top level. He knows the game very well. After every game United get all my individual clips and they’ll review that and give me a phone call and go through them with me.”
Despite seeing little of the pitch before January, the England youth international was in no rush to quit and knew his time would come with patience and hard work.
“It was always set in my head to stay until the end of the season because, where would I go? League One, League Two? I don’t think I would get a club like Hibs so I always happy anyway, even when game time wasn’t coming around as Ryan, Paul and Rocky Bushiri were playing well. You have to earn your chance and when it comes you have to take it.”
Take it he has, thrust into the starting XI since the departure of Ryan Porteous, Fish has guided Hibernian up three spots in the table with two goals and three clean sheets in five fixtures.
