DEREK RIORDAN looks like a young man who could do with a good dinner. Watching the waif-like striker run on to the park you worry he's going to get flattened by the more muscular defenders.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

He may look puny, but the 20-yearold Hibs striker has a steely will and an eye for goal. Riordan has been eating well and working out in the gym to bulk up. He still looks like Billy Whizz's under-nourished Scottish cousin but he is building his upper-body strength all the time.

Celtic, and a host of English clubs such as Charlton, Manchester City and Southampton, have been linked with the Edinburgh youngsterwho could leave Easter Road when the transferwindow reopens in January.

He is one of the hottest properties in Scottish football.

He is also unusual in that he is a homegrown strikerwho scores goals on a regular basis. there is, however, a feeling of deja vu. The best example of what might have been involves Mark Burchill at Celtic. He was hailed as the man who could score goals for Scotland, handed six caps and then disappeared off the radar.

Hibs, too, have had their fair share of bright young things, with the name of Kenny Miller prominent among them. He banged in a few goals for the Easter Road side, secured a bigmoney move to Rangers but was then shipped out to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Miller still plays for Scotland but many believe he has never fulfilled his potential.

So just what makes Riordan different to the also-rans who never quite made the major breakthrough, and why should he be considered as one of Scotland's bright young football hopes?

First, he is lightning fast. He can bend free-kicks round walls with great expertise. He also has a footballing brain and it is usually his striking partner, Garry O'Connor, rather than him who is caught offside.

Watch him in action and you will see a young man desperate to get involved. Whenever Hibs get a setpiece in a dangerous position, he is hovering near to take the kick.

Like many young players, however, he can find trouble. He was arrested after a fracas outside an Edinburgh nightclub and dumped from the Scotland Future squad which played in Germany because of it. After that, he was kept on tenterhooks by Mowbray overwhether he would play against Celtic the following week.

Following a dressing down, the striker took his place in the side but was left in no doubt as to the Hibs manager's views. "Whether you are a youth player or a member of the first team squad we have a code of conduct that you have to adhere to, " Mowbray told him.

Expanding on the matter, Mowbray said: "I am not going to turn Derek or any of my players into angels. I tell him to rest when he can, eat the right food and not just assume he is going to make it and point out the need to work hard."

His arrest was a wake-up call for Riordan who needs guidance to get him through all the off-the-field pitfalls that beset young players. Mowbray has been a calming influence as has his agent Jim McArthur, the formerHibs goalkeeper.

Riordan is playing for the club he supported as a boy.

"I still have to pinch myself every time I run out at Easter Road because it really is special to me to play for the club I supported, " Riordan has said.

"I know what it's like to watch Hibs. I got very frustrated at times when I was a punter and I still do as a player. That's why my only aim is to score the goals that help Hibs win games, because then I'm making our fans happy."

It certainly pleases the locals in the Gunner Pub in Muirhouse. The hostelry is where Riordan once caught the supporters' bus to Hibs away games and they are delighted to see a local boy making good.

A level of his passion for the club was shown when he was once thrown out of EasterRoad as a spectator for breaking a seat in frustration after a bad defeat to Kilmarnock.

Out of all the great Hibs strikers of the past, Riordan has a rather unusual hero.

Keith Houchen, who played for the Easter Road side in the early 1990s, never set the heather on fire. Despite that, Houchen, who scored in Coventry's 1987 FA Cup final victory, was Hibs'main strikerwhen Riordan was growing up and became his idol.

Thousands of young Hibs fans now look up to Riordan and although still in the first flush of youth he has become their hero and role model. Only time will tell if their faith is rewarded.