Gogic goal a nice surprise for Easter Road boss
HIBERNIAN boss Jack Ross admitted he was as surprised as he was delighted after Alex Gogic scored his first goal for the club to seal victory over Kilmarnock.
The Cypriot thrashed in Christian Doidge’s pass from around 12 yards to earn his team a first win since before Christmas. An Alan Power own goal earlier in the half had sent Hibs on their way.
‘I would like to say that I’ve seen him do that in training regularly, but I haven’t!’ said Ross. ‘He quite often gets chased out of the finishing drills when he tries to get involved. It’s a heck of a finish, to be fair, and I thought it capped an excellent performance.
‘I wouldn’t want to say the game suited him, but it wasn’t a pretty game. The pitch isn’t great and his contribution was good.
‘I’m pleased for him, he’s deserved it for his performances this season.’
The former Hamilton Accies midfielder admitted his strike was something of a collector’s item.
‘That’s my first goal since I scored here for Hamilton last season,’ he revealed.
‘It was an important one too, quite late on, and it was good to get the win and the clean sheet.
‘It’s easily the best goal I’ve scored — the other two were headers and I could have had another header today.
‘It’s a big week for us with the League Cup semi-final ahead of us.
‘We’ve been there before and we want to take the next step this time and get into the final.’
Killie’s disappointment was tempered by the news on Friday night that the SFA tribunal had reversed the SPFL’s decision to award them a 3-0 defeat for failing to fulfil their fixture against Motherwell because of a coronavirus outbreak.
Assistant manager Andy Millen, who was one of those who had tested positive, felt that it was a victory for common sense.
‘I was unfortunate to have it myself, my whole family was down with it,’ he revealed.
‘The people making these decisions are not using common sense, they’re not in the real world. You only need to see what’s happening in English football, there’s no hysteria there.
‘If the game is off, it’s off. The most important thing is people’s lives are at stake.
‘After your 10 days, 14 days, whatever it is, if you’re fortunate enough to be healthy, you’ll move on.
‘There’s always another day for a game of football.’