HIBS striker Anthony Stokes today admitted he'd love to celebrate his recall to the Republic of Ireland squad by claiming the winning goal in his first Edinburgh derby. The 21-year-old was taken aback when Irish boss Giovanni Trapattoni named him along with Easter Road team-mate Liam Miller for the forthcoming World Cup play-off matches with France.
The call came just days after Stokes had netted a stunning equaliser against Rangers at Ibrox, his fourth goal for Hibs since his shock return to Scottish football.
And now the former Arsenal youngster is determined to further his chances of facin
g the French in Dublin on Saturday week and again in Paris four days later by helping Hibs to victory in what will also be his first visit to Tynecastle.
Although the Dublin-born youngster had a short spell on loan at Falkirk two years ago – banging in 16 goals in just 18 matches – he never played in Gorgie, a trip he admitted he's been relishing all week.
He said: "Although I've never been there, I've heard all about it. It's a tight stadium, compact with the fans right on top of the pitch so it will be a great atmosphere to play in.
"I've played in the North-East derby for Sunderland against Newcastle so I know what these days mean to everyone connected with the respective clubs, it's the biggest match of the season for us all.
"But as players we cannot let the crowd interfere by way of distracting us.
"We have to be focused on the match, on playing our game and looking to keep the bit of momentum we have built up going."
Hibs go into Saturday's lunchtime start seeking a seventh successive SPL match without defeat, knowing victory over their greatest rivals would not only see the gap between them widen from 11 points to 14 in the Easter Road outfit's favour but keep them in second place in the SPL table.
Stokes, though, insisted the entire focus of the team Hughes chooses will be simply on taking all three points as they did in beating Aberdeen 2-0 last weekend.
He said: "We got a lot of plaudits for the way we played at Ibrox but it was really important to us to come back and win against Aberdeen. Had we lost that game everyone would have hammered us for only being up for the big games.
"We have to do well against the teams we are competing with, clubs like Aberdeen, Dundee United, Motherwell and Hearts. Last week, we dug out the result, it kept our good run going and now we are aiming to do the same again."
While Hibs have caught many by surprise with their impressive start to the season when questions were being raised as to how they'd cope under new boss Hughes following the summer loss of striker Steven Fletcher and skipper Rob Jones, Stokes insisted he and his team-mates weren't in that number.
He said: "I think we have a well-balanced squad, a good mix between youth and experience. The gaffer inherited a good squad of players and has brought some great players in.
"We have gelled together very well and pretty quickly at that. There's a terrific atmosphere about the club and long may that continue.
"We are, I feel, playing better and better and even in games where we don't perform as well as we can we are scrapping for the points which is always a good sign. But we are all also determined to keep working hard, to try to improve and push on again from where we are at the moment."
While there's undoubted talent within Hughes' squad, Liam Miller and Kevin McBride providing the cover for the front four of Stokes, Merouane Zemmama, Derek Riordan and Abdessalam Benjelloun to hunt for goals, the Irishman believes there's also a resilience with the squad which has seen them dig out victories when a draw has looked all but inevitable. Pointing to Benji's later winner on the opening day of the season against St Mirren, a trick he repeated with a last-ditch penalty to sink Kilmarnock and last weekend's late, late show against nine-man Aberdeen, Stokes said: "There's always a feeling that we can get a goal no matter the circumstances.
"Against Aberdeen it just looked as if the ball was never going to go into the net no matter how much possession we had and how many times we got it into the box.
"Things just weren't falling for us but it shows the strength of the squad that the gaffer can bring on big Colin Nish who adds a different dimension as he showed in getting that all-important first goal."
Stokes, of course, made a name for himself with that goals rush for Falkirk, a scoring record which earned him a £2million transfer from Arsenal reserves to Sunderland and, if he hasn't quite matched that rate since donning a green-and-white jersey, he insists he's perfectly happy with his tally so far.
Clearly bridling at the suggestion the goals haven't flowed quite as much as many might have thought given the undoubted threat of Hibs' strikeforce, he said: "I don't think the goals have been hard to come by at all.
"I don't know if people were looking for one or other of us to be banging in a hat-trick every week but we haven't got to second place in the league by not scoring goals.
"They've been coming. One week it's Zouma, the next Deeks or myself and so on.
"The goals have been shared around – big Colin and Liam against Aberdeen for instance – which is a great thing for any team as we don't have to rely on any one player.
"We're lucky in that we have guys like Kevin and Liam in the middle of the park doing all the hard work which lets us up front get forward and make our runs."
And, while boss Hughes' mantra throughout the season has been that hard work on the training ground will bring it's rewards on matchday, Stokes admitted being recalled by his country for two such important games as those coming up against France was a massive bonus – and boost – for him on a personal level.
Noting the last of his three caps came against Bolivia 30 months ago, he said: "I feel I have been playing well enough since I came back to Scotland but it was still a bit of a surprise.
"I was delighted. It's nice to know Mr Trapattoni is watching.
"I'm not aware of him having been at any matches up here but I'm sure he has his web of spies looking at games up and down the country.
"There's a few Irish boys in the SPL, Liam and myself at Hibs and Aiden McGeady at Celtic, for instance so it's good to know he's keeping tabs on what is going on.
"I'm sure it's taken more than one goal at Ibrox – although that couldn't have done me any harm – to earn me the call-up but now I have three massive games to look forward to.
"I'll be off to join the rest of the Irish squad on Monday so it would be great to have three more points tucked away in the kit bag with me."
