Garry knows he still has lots to learn

O'Connor (left)
By Ray Mcgrath
December 31 2003

SUCH has been the rush of young talent making the grade at Easter Road, striker Garry O’Connor finds himself, at the tender age of 20, being regarded as one of the old heads in Bobby Williamson’s squad.

But while he gives the impression of having been around forever, O’Connor readily admits he has as much to learn as the other kids who have begun to make a name for themselves over the past few months.

Although it’s only three years since he himself made his first-team debut, O’Connor has already enjoyed enough highs - and suffered sufficient lows - to realise that consistency is still one of the biggest problems to be overcome at Easter Road.

That point was hammered home emphatically over the course of the past fortnight, the ecstasy of beating Celtic in the CIS Cup quickly forgotten as Hibs were hammered 6-0 by Martin O’Neill’s outfit at the weekend.

No-one gets over such a mauling easily and O’Connor, who isn’t 21 until next May, admitted he and his team-mates are still hurting at the experience, although it is one they’ll have to quickly get over with a visit from basement club Partick Thistle on Saturday.

The Jags, looked upon as the whipping boys following the first few months of the season, gained their first win by beating Motherwell a couple of weeks ago and then shocked everyone with their 4-1 victory over European hopefuls Dunfermline last weekend.

And that, O’Connor agreed, will guarantee another tough match for him and his team-mates as they seek to kick off the New Year with a victory.

He said: "Partick have sorted out their managerial position and they’ve got a wee boost from that.

"It was a great result for them last Saturday and they’ll be feeling confident right now. Although, I’d imagine, we’ll be going into the game as favourites, we know it will be a hard match and we’ll be concentrating on how well we’ve done against them in previous clashes and trying to emulate that.

"It we can get an early goal against them it will help settle things down and give us a boost to go on and try to control the game.

"They fight and scrap for every ball and are a hard team to play against but we’ll be giving it our all."

The youngsters Williamson has been forced to pitch into first-team action perhaps earlier than he would have liked have had to grow up quickly although none are likely to be put under the same pressure as O’Connor was early in his career, his first season ending with him becoming part of Berti Vogts’ Scotland squad.

While he enjoyed the experience at the time, O’Connor now admits it was perhaps too much too early, the free-scoring hitman having found the past two seasons somewhat of a struggle although he hasn’t been helped by a spate of injuries, including a second broken foot.

He said: "It was a great honour to be chosen for a full cap but in truth I don’t think I was really ready for that level at that time.

"It’s great to be involved with the international side but my total focus at this moment is on my Hibs career and I want to keep learning and keep developing as a player here at Easter Road."

And to that end, O’Connor revealed that he doesn’t expect today’s youngsters to look on him as something of a father figure - most of them, of course, were team-mates in Hibs’ under-21 side not so long ago - happy to leave that particular role to the likes of Grant Brebner, Gary Smith and Colin Murdock.

He said: "There’s a lot of good young players coming through at the club and although I’m still young myself, I’ve been around the team for a while and every day is a learning process for me.

"I don’t really try to offer any advice to the other young players as I have to concentrate very much on my own game and we look to the older guys to offer us the occasional pat on the head by way of encouragement.

"If things aren’t going well for me on the park it’s good to have the likes of Grant, Gary and Colin around to give me a few words of encouragement.

"The manager wants consistency and that’s what we must strive to provide.

"From a personal point-of-view I’ve learned a lot since I joined Hibs and I know I’ve still a lot more to learn about the game.

"But I will keep my ears open and take on board the advice and coaching with a view to improving my game."