Hibs played Newcastle United in their final pre-season friendly and they can take two big positives away from it.
An early goal from Stevie Mallan put Hibs in the lead, before strikes from Joelinton, Sean Longstaff and Jamaal Lascelles sealed victory for the Toon.
It was a decent showing from the Hibees, but the Premier League side’s sheer star quality showed itself in the end.
Two big positives Hibs can take from it though are the returns of Vykintas Slivka and Ryan Porteous.
Porteous and Slivka are two positives ahead of Hibs’ season opener
Whilst neither are likely to be fit for starting competitive action against St Mirren on league duty, it shows they are very close to full fitness.
Porteous got onto the pitch for the final 25 minutes, whilst his Lithuanian counterpart played 45 minutes in the first half.
It’s a big boost for manager Paul Heckingbottom. His side don’t have much strength in depth in certain positions, so to have two quality players returning to the side is massive.
Slivka will have a fight on his hands to break into the starting XI. The combination of Scott Allan, Josh Vela and Stephen Mallan presents a dangerous looking midfield. More hard work lies ahead of him if he aims to be a regular starter this term.
Porteous’ task is slightly easier, but still difficult. Adam Jackson, Darren McGregor and Paul Hanlon are Hibs’ only senior centre-backs just now. Porteous will likely find some game time when the likes of McGregor need a rest initially.
It’s great for Hibs that these two stars are back in matchday contention. It’ll be interesting to see if they can make the starting XI in the coming weeks.