Merouane Zemmama could not be in better shape as he and his international team-mate Abdessalam Benjelloun prepare for Morocco's crunch World Cup qualifier against Gabon this week - the pair hoping that results elsewhere go their way and so give them one final tilt at making it to South Africa when they face Cameroon in their final qualifying match.

Zemmama has been in sparkling form since retuning to Easter Road after a season-long loan, a training ground injury in pre-season the only setback but one that was confined to history in the last two league outings that have seen the little Moroccan hit the target twice - and turn in some stunning football. The pair boarded their flight on Monday with praise still ringing in their ears, in particular for Zemmama who prior to joining his international team-mates told Hibernian TV: "I thanked God for the goal on Saturday - but I was disappointed we did not win the game.

"But we did put in a great performance in particular in the first half, we then dropped it a little bit in the second half and they had the chance to score and that left me very disappointed - but we need to keep working hard and stay high up in the league table. It is a tough business to stay in second or third place but we can stay in this position if we all work hard together.

"Two goals from two games gives me even more motivation and I would like to thank the Hibernian supporters for their continued encouragement, they give me a lot of energy to keep going so I hope I can keep scoring and setting up goals for my friends and to help Hibernian go as far as possible. Ramadan is now over, Benji and I could only really play 30 minutes at a time during Ramadan but now we are both looking forward to repaying the Hibernian supporters and the manager for their patience."

Hibernian's strike trio of Stokes, Riordan and Zemmama are certainly giving defences something to think about this season, in particular when free kicks are awarded around the target area - but Zemmama revealed there is not contest going on between the trio, who have only the good of the team in mind: "We have a lot of quality when it comes to taking free kicks - it is not really a competition between us although it is good to have so many players who can score from free kicks around the penalty area. So it does not matter who takes them, we will decide at the time who feels confident - the important thing is not who takes the free kick, it is scoring goals from them and winning points for the team.

"I'm certainly not greedy to take the ball every time we get a free kick, it could be me, Derek or Stacky - does not matter so long as the ball goes in the net!" The Moroccan also revealed that he has adopted a couple of very Scottish traditions, he said as he clutched a tin of Scotland's 'other' national drink: "I celebrate with Irn Bru - we cannot drink alcohol of course but I like Irn Bru, and I like also Haggis!" There will be no supply of either in the Moroccan training camp this week, Zemmama confirming that while hopes of World Cup qualification are slim they are still there for his national side: "We really have to win our game against Gabon and then wait for the result from the Cameroon game - we hope that will leave us with a chance of qualifying through our final game against them in Morocco."