By Calum Brown

Former Buddies boss Jack Ross returns to his old club tonight as Hibernian face St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership under the lights at the Simple Digital Arena.

It will be Ross’ second game in charge of Hibs since replacing Paul Heckingbottom. The 43-year-old started his reign on Saturday with a convincing 3-1 victory over Motherwell, which saw the Edinburgh club climb into the top six.

Gavin Wilson, founder of football podcast ‘Hibs Talk’, believes that Ross can go on to achieve great things at Easter Road.

He said: “Jack Ross has the potential to be an excellent appointment. I believe this is more than just a ‘new manager bounce’ and think things will improve more once Ross can implement his own ideas more. At Hibs, everything is in place for him to build something exciting.”

A man that knows Jack Ross very well is St Mirren’s Head of Media, James Hunter, who speaks very highly of the former Sunderland head coach.

He said: “I’m looking forward to seeing Jack again. He was great to work with. He’s a great people person, very engaging, has high standards and he did a terrific job in transforming a team that looked certain for relegation to the third tier to Championship winners during his time at the club.”

A late Sam Foley goal gave St Mirren a 2-1 victory over Ross County on Saturday, leaving the Buddies sitting 10th in the Premiership, but only goal difference separates them from bottom of the league St Johnstone, with four teams level on 11 points.

Jim Goodwin’s side will be looking for their fourth win of the season, and with a tough task ahead tonight, Hunter believes the Buddies’ home form could prove vital.

He commented: “Our home form has been good this season so hopefully we can continue to build on that.” We’ve won three at home against Aberdeen, St Johnstone and Ross County, and only lost once, to Rangers. We’ve only conceded two goals at home in the league.

“I think the team feels confident at home and night time games under the lights at Paisley are always quite special. Hibs have played well in their last two and picked up two great wins. They’ll be a tough team to come up against and I’m sure it’ll be an entertaining game this evening.”