Nectar Triantis staying on loan at Hibernian after becoming key player

David Gray heaped praise on Nectar Triantis for establishing himself as a key man in Hibernian’s midfield as he confirmed that the on-loan Sunderland player will be remaining at Easter Road for the rest of the season.

The 21-year-old Australian joined Hibs on a season-long loan in the summer after a relatively low-key loan stint with the Edinburgh club in the second half of last term under Nick Montgomery.

Triantis has emerged as one of Hibs’ most important players as they have recovered from a poor start to surge from bottom of the Premiership to sixth place with a run of six wins and just one defeat in their last 10 games.

Triantis – who has been converted from centre-back to central midfielder under Gray – headed the winner against Kilmarnock a fortnight ago and scored his second career goal on Saturday as he delivered a man-of-the-match display in a 3-1 triumph at home to Motherwell.

“No, he’ll still be here, which is great,” said Gray, ruling out the prospect of Sunderland recalling Triantis this month.

“Even though he is a loan player, I think he’s shown he’s very much part of the team and really enjoying his football at the moment.

“He’s done really well again today. I thought he was everywhere in the first half, real good composure on the ball as well, and then even moments in the second half, breaking up the play. He’s not played as a centre midfielder for a long time in his career.

“Obviously, he came over as a centre-back, so we’ve done a lot of work with him trying to get him into that (midfield) position, and you can clearly see he’s getting better and fitter all the time.

“He’s still young, you forget he is only 21, and he’s got that attitude and desire to keep improving.”

Martin Boyle was also on the scoresheet with a double, with Well hitting back through a Callum Slattery free-kick.

The visitors’ misery was compounded when they had Jack Vale sent off in stoppage time as they emerged from a gruelling run of fixtures since the Friday before Christmas with just one win in seven.

Manager Stuart Kettlewell is relieved his beleaguered squad – who have added goalkeeper Aston Oxborough and Paul McGinn to a significant injury list – have no midweek game as they prepare for a Scottish Cup trip to St Johnstone on Saturday.

“We’ve been longing for it (the break),” he said.

“You can see the energy levels are low. I made six changes (against Hibs) to try and keep a freshness to our group, but we’ve had six games in the last 17 days.

“The players have not been away from the club for a day over Christmas and New Year. It’s been a real toll on us.

“If you’re playing every 2.8 days then it’s going to have that bearing. We need to give the players a day off. We need to get them away from the place and get them off their feet.”