Allan thrilled to renew his old pals act with McNulty

IT’S an on-field partnership borne of a long friendship away from football. A pairing of talents that might have happened a year earlier, if only fates hadn’t conspired to keep them apart. Yes, plenty of groundwork went into that single, sumptuous, perfectly-placed pass from Scott Allan to Marc McNulty as the Hibs players combined for a superb opener in Wednesday night’s 3-0 win over Ross County. And it all started on a lads’ holiday in a Balearic resort not necessarily renowned for athletic excellence. Unless you count all-night dancing. Former Celtic midfielder Allan, who had hoped to secure another loan spell at Easter Road last January partly because it meant teaming up with Scotland striker McNulty, said: ‘How do I know him? From a holiday in Ibiza! ‘Nah, I’ve known Marc since I was 18, always spoke to him. Last year, when I was hoping to get here in January, playing with him was one of the things I was looking forward to — but it wasn’t to be. ‘I’ve known him for a long time, I know his style of play and I know that it suits mine. ‘So I’ve had to wait a year — but the partnership feels natural. It’s all about how he plays. ‘Marc is on the shoulder, ready to go. As soon as I get the ball, I can look up and know where he is going to be. ‘In fairness, I had two chances to put him through after the first goal against Ross County. He went and I didn’t play it. So it’s still getting there — but it will come.’ Allan, speaking ahead of tomorrow’s trip to face Kilmarnock, also believe he is benefiting from the arrival of Greg Docherty, whose drive from midfield is opening spaces in a new formation. The pair have plenty in common, with on-loan Rangers extra Docherty hoping to achieve the same sort of career boost Allan did from two previous spells loaned out to Hibs. Allan, drawing on his own experience of going from unwanted Celtic squad filler to first-team starter, said: ‘It’s a great feeling, especially at a club like this. ‘The fans here, if you do well for them, really value you — and it’s a proper football environment. ‘So it’s a great move for Greg. He brings energy and quality on the ball, so he has definitely added to the team. ‘We’ve not even been able to train properly over the past few weeks, we just kept ticking over because of the number of games we’ve had. ‘Now we’ll get time to train as a squad and put a bit of structure in place. ‘As a team, this is the best attacking football we’ve played in a while. ‘We had been scoring goals but maybe not sustaining the amount of pressure we would have liked. I felt like we really did that against Ross County.’ Hibs also have a double goal threat up front, with McNulty hitting four goals in his first four matches and Christian Doidge taking his season’s tally to 16 against the Highland team. ‘The two of them are really complementing each other,’ said Allan. ‘Doidgey scores lot of his goals with his head and Marc is a bit different from him in terms of his pace and his finishing. ‘The two of them are now going to be massive for us.’