Collins Praise For In Form Donaldson

John Collins has praised Clayton Donaldson after his hat trick in Saturday’s 4-1 victory over Kilmarnock.

The lanky striker is beginning to find his feet in the SPL after initially starting just one of Hibs opening six league games.

Signed in the summer from English Conference side York City, the forward is showing the type of form the Hibs support had hoped for by banging in 5 goals in the past three games.

Prior to yesterday, goals against Falkirk in the league and a lovely individual effort against Motherwell had given the fans hope he was indeed the real deal.

The Falkirk game had a disappointing end for Donaldson after he received a soft red card for two bookable offences.

His performance yesterday was impressive. The first goal was a clever shot on the turn and was a proper striker’s finish. Added to that were two cool penalty finishes, sending the keeper the wrong way on both occasions.

The Englishman’s display clearly pleased John Collins who said ‘Clayton is getting better and better as the weeks go by. He’s slowly but surely got used to the pace of training and the demands we put on him.

‘He’s showing his real strength is his pace and is going to score lots of goals I think.

‘He showed a lot of guts to take the third penalty, he wants to score goals and I was delighted to see it go in.

‘His hat-trick was thoroughly deserved but his overall performance, taking away the goals, was terrific.’

The manager was obviously delighted with the overall performance and further said ‘It was exactly the response I wanted from the cup – we really controlled the game.

‘We passed it well and had great movement up the top of the pitch with Donaldson, Steven Fletcher and Filipe Morais.

‘They really couldn’t cope with the pace. We scored four and could have scored more, so it was a very pleasing performance. The only disappointing aspect was to lose the goal.’