JOE Keenan believes that Hibernian are beginning to silence the doubters who questioned the quality of Mixu Paatelainen's summer signings.
The 25-year-old Englishman, who started his career at Chelsea, has quickly settled into a new life at Easter Road after becoming a fixture in Paatelainen's starting line-up.
Midfielder Keenan feels he is part of a strong outfit even if Hibs fans r
aised initial eyebrows at his capture from Australian outfit Melbourne Victory and questioned other summer recruits.
Paatelainen ran the rule over a steady stream of trialists in the close season, before landing Keenan, Steven Thicot and Steven Pinau and – more recently – Sol Bamba and Derek Riordan.
Riordan's return from Celtic has lifted spirits and provided a new attacking dimension, yet Keenan feels Paatelainen's overall squad now has a depth of talent fans should be pleased with.
Ahead of this afternoon's Clydesdale Bank Premier League trip to high-flying Hamilton, the Southampton-born player said: "I think the standard of the team is really good.
"I know there were a few people who were asking questions about the signings over the summer, people like myself who didn't have big reputations and were rather unknown.
"But if you look at the signings we've made, I think they're really positive. Sol Bamba, I thought, had an excellent debut last weekend, despite his red card, and looked very strong.
"And everyone knows what Derek can do. Now that the transfer window is done, I think we've got some really good signings for the club."
Three wins – the latest an impressive 2-1 victory at Aberdeen last week – and two defeats in the league so far have earned SPL new boys Hamilton a satisfactory report card from manager Billy Reid, but he insists his team can still do better.
"We need to give our all in every game, all of the time," he said. "We've already found out that if you make mistakes at this level, that teams will punish you.
"We saw that with Kilmarnock and Hearts, especially at set-pieces. That's something we have to learn from.
"But the players here know they can have an influence on the SPL if they play in the right manner and we are certainly not here to make up the numbers."
The full article contains 386 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
