Things we learned as Allan showed star quality at Easter Road
The Hibs man has been his own worst enemy at times, which he admits, but his treatment by Celtic last year was awful and robbed him of a year, and now he is fit and on a football pitch.
True, he had an up and down game – every good moment was followed by an error – and the fact everyone goes on about his reluctance to get back and defend tells you something.
However, let’s concentrate instead on what Allan is good at, which is creating and scoring goals; including the winner here with five minutes to go when his mazy run took him through the St Mirren defence and he finished it with a lovely strike.
As his teammate Steven Whittaker said: “Scott showed his qualities all day and he had a chance to score earlier when his effort came back off the post and we thought it was going in. We know if we get him on the ball then we all know there will be goalscoring chances created for us.
“He is a great player to have in the team. Sometimes I need to shout at him right enough to do his work off the ball! But he is working hard for the team. His assets are going forward but he is willing to put the work in as well.
“Most attacking players are more interested in creating rather than defending and I understand that. The manager has us defending as a unit, so it is important everyone does their own roles and Scott understands that.
“He has been brought here to come in and create for us and chip in with a few goals and he has done that. He has got off to a great start in the league and long may that continue.
“He will take confidence from Saturday and we are hoping to have a good season.”
Allan played on the right but must be the main man in the middle. Give him the ball and he’s capable of magic. The Welshman lost his balance when given a clean shot at goal at 0-0, and then in the final minute, all he had to do was get his boot to the ball – which was a few yards out from an empty goal – and failed. His manager, Paul Heckingbottom, said: “It will come for him. the first one fell behind him then the other flashed across the goal. But a big contribution for our goal, he got the assist - great movement, great first touch.” The defeat was harsh on them. They created good chances, played well on the counter-attack, had a good shape and given that four of the new signings came in on Monday, this was a pretty decent first effort.
What Jim Goodwin can’t afford to happen is to allow any sort of a gap to form while his new-look team get used to one another.
“Hibs are one of the top teams in the league and we created chances and should have got something,” admitted Sean McLaughlin, who joined the club on Wednesday in a loan deal from Hull City.
“Going into the next few weeks, it’s something to build on. As the weeks go on, we are going to gel more. There were three or four debuts, we can only get stronger. Three of us were only in this week, me included, but the boys here are very down to earth and very welcoming and that makes it easier. St