'Fantastic' Mackay hailed as Hibs recruits hit ground running

Hibernian's summer recruits are looking good and it's down to the "fantastic job" being done by sporting director Malky Mackay, reckons Andy Halliday.

Ahead of the Leith side's return to competitive action in the Conference League second qualifying round first leg against Malisheva in Kosovo, head coach David Gray has some selection headaches.

Key creator Nicky Cadden is one of the core squad members ruled out with injury, but former Hearts and Motherwell midfielder Halliday anticipates the summer reinforcements filling the void well, particularly at the top end of the park.

"Under David Gray, especially over the last couple of seasons, a big part of their strategy is to utilise the wing-backs and put crosses into the box," Halliday told the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.

"I think I'd probably make a strong case that Nicky Cadden is arguably the best crosser in the league and a huge output for Hibs in terms of their chances created on that left-hand side.

"So I think that's a huge miss."

Striker Kieron Bowie left for Hellas Verona in January, when the 23-year-old Scotland striker became Hibs' biggest-ever sale, departing for a fee that the club said "substantially exceeds" the previous record of £4.4m for Scott Brown's move to Celtic.

Replacement Nathan Lowe, who is on loan from Stoke City, scored a double on his home debut in a pre-season friendly against Brondby.

"I do look at some of their recruitment Hibs have already done and I think a couple of the bits of business they've done so far have looked promising," Halliday added.

"They were needing a striker to replace Kieran Bowie and I think a couple of the young boys that came in last year, Owen Elding, Dane Scarlett, I thought they looked like really, really promising players, but I think a little bit more experienced at the top end of the pitch.

"I think the boy [Nathan Lowe] obviously has come on loan from Stoke and managed to get a half-decent debut against Bromby."