On-loan Hiberian defender, Ewan Moyes, is hoping that his form with Brechin City in the IRN-BRU SFL Second Division Championship and Scottish Cup ties will earn him a new deal at Easter Road after he completes his second loan spell at the Glebe Park club in May.
Moyes said: “I have continued to train with Hibs during the day and travel up to Brechin on a Thursday to work with them. Things have gone well this season and I know Hibs are tracking my progress.
“I play in bounce games for Hibs reserves and they also came and watched me when we beat Queen of the South in the Scottish Cup. I reckon I played well that night so hopefully, that will help get me a new deal there.
“I am 20 now and want to remain a full-time footballer and Hibs is my first choice of club.”
Moyes, of course, is no stranger to loan deals as he played for both Livingston and Arbroath last season where he kept up an impressive record at Scotland’s heart of football, Hampden Park.
The over 6 footer said: “I was with Celtic from aged 11 to 16 and then I joined the Hibs Youth set-up.
“I was part of their Under-19 team that won the League at Motherwell and then the SFA Youth Cup at Hampden against Rangers in 2009. That was a brilliant game to play in and it was great to get a result in it.
“We also won the East of Scotland Shield and seven of us were rewarded with first team contracts so it was a successful time.”
Moyes added a goal for each club he was loaned at last season, to the winners’ medal he picked up at the National Stadium, so he can certainly claim that the Mount Florida ground is a happy hunting one for him.
Shortly after stepping up to being a full-time professional, Moyes went out on loan to Livingston to enhance his knowledge of the game.
“I went there and trained with them every day. I played about eight games and I scored my first ever goal against Queen’s Park at Hampden. That was a fantastic feeling and the goal also won Livingston the game and took us to the top of table so it was a great day all in.”
The defender enjoyed his time with Gary Bollan’s men saying: “I needed to get experience and I got that at Livingston. It was a fantastic learning curve and I had a few ups and downs on the way.
“I got sent off in the Scottish Cup against Clyde and that taught me a lot as I was on a yellow card from quite early in the game and I dived in when I shouldn’t have.
“I went back to Hibs at the end of December but I was soon away out again.”
Moyes’ next move gave him an introduction to part-time football as he agreed to join Second Division Arbroath with Hibs team-mate Callum Booth also agreeing to a loan spell at Gayfield under the then Manager Jim Weir.
“I was back at Hibs for about a week and then I was off to Arbroath,” said Moyes before adding: “Callum and I would work with Hibs during the week and then train on a Thursday night with the Arbroath guys.”
Instead of being involved in a Third Division Championship fight with Livingston, Moyes was now involved in a fight to stay in the Second Division and the Red Lichties almost won a reprieve……twice.
He said: “When I went there, Arbroath were 10 points behind East Fife and we started to catch up. We eventually had to settle for a relegation Play-Off place on goal difference alone. We faced East Fife on the final normal day of the League season and I got booked and that was to prove to be a very annoying caution.”
The Play-Offs started well with Moyes explaining: “I played against Queen’s Park in the first leg of the Semi-Final of the Play-Off at Hampden and I scored again. It was in the same goal as the one I had scored for Livingston earlier in the season and we won 4-0 that night. The second leg was a bit of a formality and a 2-2 draw saw us through.
“I played in the first leg of the Final against Forfar that finished goalless but I missed the second game because that booking against East Fife took me over the points limit.
“I went to Station Park and watched the game and it was really frustrating as Forfar won 2-0. It was incredibly tough to watch and again it was a further learning curve for me about the implications of being booked in games.
“The boys were incredibly disappointed afterwards and I felt bad as I was not able to play.”
Manager Weir swapped clubs during the summer as he left Arbroath for Brechin and he quickly moved for his capital city duo again with Moyes saying: “Jim came back in for Callum and I right at the start of the season. He sold it to us by saying we would be competing at the right end of the table this time.
“I am really enjoying it and scoring in my first game against East Fife in The ALBA Challenge Cup certainly helped me settle in.
“I have also scored against my old club Livingston however, that was not the greatest of days as it was in the last minute of the game and we were 3-0 down already.”
As well as learning in games, Moyes is benefiting from the knowledge of the defensive duo at the helm of the Angus club as he explained: “Jim was a defender as a player and so was his assistant Kevin McGowne. They have taught me a lot and been a great help to my career and it has been really enjoyable working with them again.”
Brechin are not only in the race for promotion as they have been involved in a Scottish Cup run that has taken the Glebe Park men to the brink of reaching the Quarter Finals for the very first time.
Annan Athletic were seen off 5-2 in a replay on 4th January, some 45 days after the clubs had first played out a 2-2 draw with Moyes saying: “It was pretty wild conditions down at Annan so we did well to get that result.”
Just a week later, Brechin returned to the south west of Scotland to face First Division Queen of the South and they won 2-1 to send them through to the last 16 where they will face East Stirlingshire following their 1-0 win over Buckie Thistle on Wednesday.
Moyes reckons that the win at Palmerston was fully deserved saying: “The Queen of the South game was a brilliant game to be involved in. We could have won by more as we played really well and it would have been fantastic if Rory McAllister’s 40 yard chip had come off.”
Last Saturday, back on League business, Brechin hit back twice to draw 2-2 with Airdrie United and Moyes is delighted that his team-mates held on to the unbeaten run they have been on since losing that Livingston game in the middle of September.
“We did not really perform at Airdrie,” said Moyes before adding: “But we did well to come back into the game twice and get a draw.
“We have this long unbeaten run and are determined to hold on to it for a bit longer although it will be hard as we have Alloa this weekend and have to play other promotion chasing sides like Livingston and Ayr United before the end of February.”
Moyes will relish the challenge saying: “It would be great to pick up as many points as possible to get back to the top of the division. We have been there before and that is where I want us to be again.
“I will worry about the Scottish Cup when that comes round again as at the moment, I am only concentrating on the League. I want to help Brechin win the Second Division Championship and that is our aim.
“If we get into the Play-Offs, I suppose it is the next best option and it will be better to be involved in them this way than being involved the other way round as it was last year with Arbroath.”
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