WE’RE GOING ON STRIKE
Doidge tells Prem clubs to watch their backs as Hibs side is packed with goals
CHRISTIAN DOIDGE says Hibs are goal plated as their strikers have started the season with a bang.
Hot on the heels of Martin Boyle’s opening-day double, Doidge hit the net here while fellow striker Kevin Nisbet bagged a hat-trick.
Nisbet’s first two were typical striker’s goals with a back-post tap-in and a firm header.
Doidge got off and running for the season with a simple finish of his own and although Lyndon Dykes’ second half penalty threatened a fightback Nisbet claimed the match ball with a spot-kick of his own with five minutes to go.
It took Doidge three months to score a league goal after arriving at Hibs last summer, so the big Welshman knows the value of Nisbet bagging a treble in his second Premiership game.
He said: “I think we performed well together and I’m really happy for Kevin to get that hat-trick.
“He’d been doing that kind of thing all week in training, looking really sharp.
“It’s a fantastic achievement at any level, getting a hat-trick, and I’m so pleased for him.
“With Martin getting a couple last week, we’ve got plenty of threat – and there are even more goals in the team.
“Joe scores a lot of goals in training, Daryl is a real threat as well. I think we looked good, even when we were up against it, with Boyle’s pace so we probably could have scored a lot more.”
The best example of Doidge and Nisbet’s understanding came in the second half.
Doidge picked up possession just inside the Livi half, looked up and zinged a brilliant diagonal over the opposite full-back’s head and on to Nisbet’s instep.
The junior partner’s first touch took him inside his man and although his strike was blocked, it showed the pair are on the same wavelength.
Doidge said: “That’s not normally like me, to be honest! I don’t know, it just fell nice to me.
“We’d been working all week on switching play and I felt it was the right pass at the time. I’m lucky it came off.”
All of the visitors’ goals came from crosses into the box and Doidge admits having Nisbet alongside him gives the aerial approach a double threat.
He said: “What we’d done all week in training was about getting crosses in the box and we did it to a tee today – four goals from four crosses, effectively.
“That speaks volumes, shows that the lads are taking on board what the gaffer wants from us.
“Livingston is a very difficult place to go and they put a lot of balls into the box in the second half. They’ll make you head for your life. When you’ve got the pace of Boyle and Horgan, sometimes you don’t even need to see them, you just put it into space and know they’ll win the race.
“Then you’ve got someone like young Jamie Gullan who comes off the bench. He’s got loads of pace. It’s perfect for us
“Sometimes we can sit in and be a counter-attacking team. Sometimes we can outplay teams.”
Both sides made two changes from the teams that kicked off their seasons.
Livingston replaced Aaron TaylorSinclair with Ciaron Brown and Alan Forrest with Scott Robinson.
Ross changed a winning team, Drey Wright missing out through injury and Scott Allan dropping to the bench.
In came Doidge and Daryl Horgan, and it proved a masterstroke.
Horgan’s trickery and awareness laid the opening goal on a plate for Nisbet.
He punished a slip by Jon Guthrie by dropping a shoulder, hitting the byline and drilling a low ball to the back post for the Hibs No.15 to tap home.
The two combined again to double the lead, Horgan crossing after a strong run from teenage left-back Josh Doig.
Nisbet rose and met it well. In a move more often seen from strike partner Doidge, the power of the header beat Robby McCrorie.
It was 3-0 and game over four minutes later. Joe Newell’s corner wasn’t cleared properly and first Ryan Porteous, then Paul Hanlon, sent the ball goalwards before Doidge showed why they’re defenders by applying a simple finish.
The second half saw Livi offer a bit more. Hanlon was booked for pulling down Matej Poplatnik in the box, and Dykes slammed home the penalty.
Hibs defended solidly after that and eventually made the game safe from the spot through Nisbet after Melker Hallberg was fouled by Marvin Bartley.