Boyle bounces back with brace to leave Dons shell-shocked
He spent almost a year on the treatment table. But Martin Boyle proved he’s back to his unplayable best with a stunning double as Hibs downed Aberdeen.
After a nip-and-tuck first half, the Hibees needed some inspiration.
Fit again Boyle provided it in spades with a performance full of his trademark speed and ever-increasing nous.
A terrific Florian Kamberi strike capped off Hibs’ second-half blitz, leaving Aberdeen shell-shocked.
For Boyle, who was substituted to a standing ovation after his heroics, it was an afternoon that made all his hard work over the past 12 months in recovering from two knee injuries worthwhile.
“I was just trying to catch my breath, to be honest. I had blown a gasket,” he joked about his walk off the park.
“But, no, it was an unbelievable feeling. The fans came out in their numbers again and I’m glad we were able to get the result for them.
“Aberdeen are a strong team. There are a lot of big guys there, but I think we were probably due them one after last time when we let the lead slip at Pittodrie.
“The ovation I got 100% makes all the work worth it.
“I’ve been out for near enough a year, and moments like that stay with you a long time.
“That’s why you do all the hard work, do the rehab.”
Ominously for Premiership defenders everywhere, the Hibs man feels there is even more to come.
“I’ve 100% got a bit more to find,” he said. “I played 90 minutes in midweek, and maybe if I’d been fitter I could have played another 90 today.
“I was a bit fatigued, so it’s probably the right thing to come off rather than stay on to chase the hat-trick. But I’ll keep working hard and I’ll get there in the end.”
The first half was a rapid affair. From the off, the pace of play from both sides was frantic.
But, as the players became increasingly breathless, the match itself huffed and puffed with them.
It wasn’t pretty but, on balance, Aberdeen had the best of the first 45.
Ofir Marciano, restored to Hibs’ starting 11 by Jack Ross, made two crucial interventions to deny the Dons before the break.
The first came just nine minutes in when he showed smart reactions to claw a Sam Cosgrove effort round the post.
Then he was at it again on the half-hour, standing tall to deny Aberdeen’s top scorer for a second time on the rebound from a saved James Wilson effort.
For their part, Hibs could have been ahead early on had Aberdeen stopper Joe Lewis failed to tip Stevie Mallan’s well-placed effort round his left-hand post after just three minutes.
As they have in spells in each of Jack Ross’ games as manager, the Hibees played some lovely attacking football.
But they couldn’t find a way to cut through the Aberdeen rearguard…until the second half.
Whatever Ross said to his troops at the interval had a clear effect.
Hibs came storming out of the dressing room and put the Dons on the back foot right from rookie referee Colin Steven’s whistle.
Florian Kamberi saw a fierce effort whistle just over the bar four minutes after the restart.
And, having taken heart, they then took the lead through Boyle.
The wide man has endured an injury nightmare since sustaining a knee injury on international duty with Australia last December, but
for Hibs fans, the way he latched on to Scott Allan’s terrific throughball before dinking past Lewis and slotting into the empty net was the stuff of dreams.
Boyle has always had pace to burn.
In the early days of his career, the concern was what he would do with the ball at the end of his lighting runs.
There are no such worries these days.
He slotted his second after Kamberi and Christian Doidge combined to send him clear again, amidst clear confusion in the Aberdeen ranks following a
Hail Mary triple substitution by Derek McInnes.
In a foot race between Boyle and Andy Considine, there was only ever going to be one winner and, despite the Aberdeen man’s best efforts, Hibs’ speedster was able to slip another neat finish past Lewis.
Whatever fight Aberdeen had appeared to dissipate in the aftermath.
By the time the excellent Kamberi made it 3-0 to Hibs with a truly stunning solo effort, it was effectively game over.
Pace burned, Boyle departed to a hero’s reception, leaving his teammates to see out a victory built on foundations he had laid.