Myziane Maolida believes he's well-prepared to help Hibernian secure top-six Scottish Premiership football - despite the beginning of Ramadan.
Maolida, 25, has become a key part of Nick Montgomery's side since joining on-loan from Hertha Berlin in January. He has contributed with four goals and an assist during his 10 appearances so far and has already prompted talk of a permanent stay.
Hibs currently occupy sixth position in the league table, with five games remaining until the split. However, likes of Dundee and Motherwell are breathing down their necks.
Comoros international Maolida, who is preparing for his first game of the Muslim fasting period, thinks he can cope with physical effects of Ramadan and opened up on what it's like balancing being a professional sportsperson and the month-long sacrifice.
The winger told Hibs TV: “It’s not a difficult thing because I am prepared to do Ramadan. I did it last year so for me it’s a very good moment. I am feeling very good in my body and head so it will be a good thing for me to do Ramadan.
READ MORE: Hearts seeking 50-50 Rangers Scottish Cup ticket split
“We have to eat in the morning at four o’clock and after prayers you cannot eat any more, you have to wait until six and you eat after sleeping again. If you eat well in the morning it’s very easy.
“The more difficult thing is not to drink but when it’s normal for you it’s not so difficult.
“We have some days to prepare for this during the year, so you can sometimes do a fast to prepare your body for the month of Ramadan.”
Nine-man Hibs exited the Scottish Cup on Sunday following their quarter-final defeat against Rangers.
But Maolida isn't feeling too downbeat going into a crucial double header which sees the Easter Road side travel to Dingwall to face Ross County on Wednesday before hosting Livingston on Saturday.
“It was a difficult game on Sunday but now we focus on the next games against Ross County and Livingston,” he said. “We have to take six points to be in a good place.
“We know Ross County are a physical team, really aggressive, and we have to be ready.
“I scored against them last time and I will do the maximum to score again and to help the team to win this game.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here