Doidge grateful to manager after ending drought

BY retaining his faith in Christian Doidge, Hibernian head coach Jack Ross illustrated that there are exceptions to the axiom that all strikers are judged on goals.

Doidge ended a frustrating 15-game drought on Saturday when he scored the equaliser in the 1-1 stalemate at Livingston.

Craig Sibbald had capitalised on a Ryan Porteous error to slot past Ofir Marciano from close range to put the hosts ahead. But Livingston defender Nicky Devlin was then caught out in his attempt to shield the ball out for a goal kick. Josh Doig nipped in and his pass across the box found Doidge who shot past Robby McCrorie from 12 yards just before the break.

The Hibs players mobbed the Welshman, delighted for their team-mate that he at last had earned a tangible reward for the work he puts in for the side.

Ross had clearly not been concerned by Doidge’s lack of goals, starting the 28-year-old in all but one of the last nine Premiership matches. He also made that clear to Doidge in training ground chats.

“As a manager he is great,” said Doidge. “He has a lot of one on one chats with the players so you know where you’re at and I think that is very important.

“Even though I know I haven’t scored it helps to know that he values what I do on the pitch for the team and I know my team-mates do as well and that gives me the determination to go out there and put in a shift.

“Obviously, as a centre-forward, you want to score goals every week and I have been on a run where I haven’t, but the gaffer puts faith in me by putting me on the pitch. He knows that even when I’m not scoring goals I am contributing to the team and, for me, that’s the most important thing.”