Maolida and Marcondes bring 'world class' to Hibs as duo's impact has one star dreaming of European tour

Will Fish reckons “world-class” loan duo Myziane Maolida and Emiliano Marcondes have kick-started Hibs' season.

And he insists Nick Montgomery’s team are now full of creative stars who have helped them turn the corner and ease into the top six ahead of Sunday’s Scottish Cup showdown with Rangers. Montgomery’s job looked in real danger a few weeks ago when they were booed off following a dismal 3-0 home trouncing from St Mirren. But since then, the capital club have turned it around, going five games unbeaten, including four in the Premiership.

Hibs rounded off a fine week by taking their seventh point out of a possible nine with a hard-fought win over Ross County thanks to second-half goals from Maolida and sub Dylan Levitt. They deserved to win at Hearts last midweek, with only a highly controversial penalty denying them a rare success in Gorgie, and their gaffer fielded the same team for the third game in a row.

After years of being carried by Martin Boyle, this Hibs team are now lifted by the attacking nous of Hertha Berlin’s Maolida and Bournemouth star Marcondes, who both joined in January. Fish is enjoying playing with the crowd-pleasing duo and revealed the team haven’t given up on a European spot, despite being seven points behind fifth-placed Kilmarnock.

He said: “When you look at Marcondes and Maolida, they are world-class players. Those two coming into the club in January has helped us massively and given us something different we didn’t have. It is a team game and it’s not just down to those two. But they are really influential for us.

“Maolida just enjoys playing ootball and he’s really tidy on the ball, knows when to pass it and when to take players on, so long may it continue. The top six is the minimum