Lee Johnson has backed Josh Campbell to become Hibernian’s answer to Frank Lampard following his winning performance against Aberdeen.
The midfielder netted twice in the second half to seal a second straight win for the Easter Road side.
Luis ‘Duk’ Lopes had put the Dons ahead before losing Liam Scales to a red card just before half-time. Martin Boyle’s penalty drew the home side level, then Campbell won it with two neat finishes.
His manager Johnson said: “Josh is trustworthy, one of the first names on the squad roster. He trains well every day, he’s a very fit player and a great lad.
“I think it’s important to simplify his game so he can be this Lampard-like character with fewer touches, getting more in the box and getting up with the leader.
“He’s a very fit player who can make a lot of runs behind the back four.
“He was exceptional. He’s a young man who went through the academy and that’s what we’re looking for.
Johnson admitted to having mixed feelings about the impending international break but hoped it would give the club’s longer-term injuries more time to recover.
He added: “The international break is a catch-22 because you want the momentum, but it buys us a few weeks to get the players back.
“We have good players to come back, those who will be like new recruits.
“(Kyle) Magennis, (Kevin) Nisbet, (Elias) Melkerson, (Aiden) McGeady aren’t a million miles away, Kevin Dabrowski, Rocky Bashiri too – you look at the team and it’s going to be strong.”
Meanwhile, Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin has called for the introduction of professional referees.
The Irishman has accused Hibs’ Ryan Porteous of cheating to win a penalty and believes VAR and a better standard of refereeing are both needed.
He said: “We talked about bringing in VAR to help the referees because of the big mistakes that were made last season. And then there has to be an argument for the full-time referees as well.
“We have to be one of the only top leagues in Europe to continue playing with part-time referees.
“Let’s look at how to find the money to make it a full-time job and then they can sit down like we do as professionals and really analyze the game, good, bad and ugly. As I don’t know when they will have the opportunity to really do it.
