HIGH-FLYING HIBS OFF TO BEST START FOR 46 YEARS
0 1 Doidge delivers to maintain perfect start for high fliers on bruising night for United
ON nights like this, some may wonder exactly why we’re fighting so hard to keep Scottish football up and running. Just don’t expect Hibs fans to be among those wishing that Nicola Sturgeon had decided to pull the plug on the SPFL yesterday.
Even after everything they’ve suffered down the decades, having their fine early-season form curtailed by eight Aberdeen players going to the boozer and Boli Bolingoli jetting off to Spain would represent a new sort of torture.
The Easter Road club are top of the Scottish Premiership with maximum points after three games, courtesy of a second-half Christian Doidge goal sparked by a tactical switch by Jack Ross — and aided by a generous interpretation of the offside laws.
So, no, this was not a great advert for the game. Honestly, one of the cardboard cutouts behind the goal actually got up and walked out at half-time.
For a Hibs team who looked solid and resolute even under intensive pressure, though, beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder.
They headed back to the capital feeling like they’d done a good job to secure victory. They found a way to win, however ugly. How often have supporters of Edinburgh’s green-and-white tribe wished for a team capable of doing just that?
They always knew they were in for a battle here, of course. Ross and his men were never likely to take lightly the obvious threat posed by their newly promoted hosts.
Teams coming up to the top flight have an energy and enthusiasm that gets them through the first few weeks. Four points out of six at the start of the season would not have done Dundee United’s confidence any harm, either.
Yet Micky Mellon would have expected Hibs, with their perfect record of two wins from two games, six goals for and just two conceded, to present his team with a much sterner examination than either St Johnstone or a surprisingly flat Motherwell.
The home side started with plenty of drive and pace about them, even allowing for the loss of Jamie Robson following a sickening head clash with Paul McGinn after just eight minutes.
Set up in a formation that allowed them to overload midfield or run bodies in between the gaps in the Hibs back four, United found openings — without actually threatening the goal.
With Hibs looking better on the counter than when trying to pick their way through the organised home ranks, genuine chances were at something of a premium.
And, for all the interesting individual and tactical sub-plots being played out, the folks at Sky would have had every right to wonder if they’d overpaid for this particular chunk of Scottish football ‘product’. A classic, it wasn’t.
Moments of quality? Just before half-time a Nicky Clark free-kick deflected off the wall and behind for a corner. Another Clark set-piece moments later, more central this time, dropped over the bar.
Half-time offered some entertainment, at least, courtesy of a Sky technician knocking over part of the lighting rig, making the presenting team look so lustrous. For anyone still tuned in, that is.
Would anyone on either team grab the spotlight after the break? Or should we expect both sides to maintain their tenacious grip on a tussle best played behind closed doors — and preferably in the dark?
Luke Bolton looked ready and willing to test Hibs with driving runs down the right flank, while Louis Appere began probing with clever balls into the box for United.
The pair very nearly combined to give the home side the lead after 57 minutes, Appere pulling his shot from the edge of the box wide from an accurate Bolton delivery.
That chance had been carved out in the moments after Hibs had made a substitution, Scott Allan’s introduction for Daryl Horgan leaving them temporarily undermanned on that flank.
But Allan’s introduction, allowing Hibs to switch to a pretty fluid 3-5-2 formation, definitely gave the visitors something extra. Kevin Nisbet just failed to scramble the ball home after a Martin Boyle run and cross.
And, 20 minutes into the second half, Hibs got the lead they’d been threatening to establish.
Doidge finished well from a tight angle after young Josh Doig, pushed forward at wing-back now, had seen his effort half-blocked.
It was good centre-forward sniffing from the big Welshman, who had put in his usual powerful shift without getting much of a chance.
And the fact that Doig was in an offside position when Nisbet flicked the ball out to him in his new advanced role? Well, maybe the officials just decided the game’s need for a goal outweighed such minor technicalities…
United threw bodies and balls into the Hibs box in search of the equaliser that their efforts arguably deserved. Peter Pawlett should have done better than to volley an Appere flick-on wide of goal from all of a dozen yards inside the closing ten minutes.
But the Hibs back three stood resolute, with Paul Hanlon and Ryan Porteous the immovable foundation stones of something very promising.
United could feel aggrieved by both the dubiety of the goal conceded and their own inability to break through.
Some nights are just like that. So frustrating that even the most dedicated disciple would wish that football had never been invented.