The 26-year-old striker won his first international call-up in four years when George Burley included him in his selection for Saturday’s friendly in Japan.
The player, who has often been perceived as lazy and huffy on the pitch, has been warned by the Scotland manager that he must be more of a team player if he is to make the most of his “phenomenal talent” and retain his place in future squads.
However, Hughes believes that putting in the hard work is no longer a problem for Riordan or the other “flair” players in his side, such as Merouane Zemmama, as they are thriving under his fresh approach. He said: “People keep saying to me, ‘what have you done to get Derek working so hard?’ and ‘what have you done to get wee Zouma working so hard?’
“The answer is they are enjoying it, they’ve got a smile on their faces. They are coming into an environment where they know they have to work hard and get a sweat on, but where they are also going to enjoy their football.
“I’m not going to ask them to do five-mile runs. We are a football team and we play football with the ball, so go and pass the ball. I think they enjoy it and when you see it coming to fruition and you get the rewards you say ‘good on you’.”
Hughes hopes that mantra can help them defeat Dundee United at Easter Road today and lift Hibs, for 20 hours at least, into second place in the table.
A concern for Hughes, however, is the fact that Hibs have kept just one clean sheet in the league this season.
“That’s the frustration. That’s why you get exasperated because we’re a little bit unpredictable,” Hughes said.
“When we’re good, we’re good; and we’ve got goals in the team, we’ve got players who can conjure up goals out of nothing. But also, on the other hand, sometimes we turn up and go, ‘Uh-oh’, and we’re just not at it.
“Hopefully, we can try to put that right and bring a bit of stability to the team and a bit of pride in keeping a clean sheet.”
Hibs will face a United side who, according to manager Craig Levein, will be “more balanced” with Morgaro Gomis available again.
The Senegal midfielder has missed three games with flu and a calf injury and although United have performed well during that time, beating St Johnstone and Ross County, Levein expects more improvement now his main middle-man is back.
Gomis’ coolness on the ball has encouraged Levein to hand him a free role this season.
“We’ve missed Morgaro over the last three games and him coming back helps the balance of the team. Last season, we had Willo Flood in a sort of roving role in midfield but when he left, we didn’t really fill it. Now we’ve got Morgaro in there and he’s been doing it well.”
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