MISSED CHANCE
Maloney needs his strikers to start firing... as draw leaves Hibs clinging to top-six spot
HIBS cling on to a top-six position, but the portents for Shaun Maloney’s team staying there for one more crucial week are not particularly encouraging.
This was a missed opportunity to secure what would have been only a second Premiership win in 12 games, not least on account of Elias Melkersen’s stoppage-time miss.
The points would have been handy as the Easter Road’s side’s last remaining pre-split fixture will see them travel across Edinburgh to face a Hearts side who will scarcely lack motivation to stop their city rivals in their tracks.
‘We have to look forward to that game,’ says Maloney. ‘If we guarantee top six then anything can happen after that. What gives me comfort is the way we played today, especially after going 1-0 down.’
And yet it was United boss Tam Courts, who looked far more satisfied in the aftermath.
United took the lead when Ross Graham headed home from close range and, although they lost some control in the second half, probably deserved their late piece of luck for a streetwise performance.
The Tangerines, too, have a derby to look forward to next weekend, but not only are their relegationthreatened neighbours a weaker opponent, they also sit fourth with a greater margin for error.
Just four points separate the seven teams in contention for the three available berths. It would take an unlikely sequence of events for United to drop out of the top half.
‘I think it’s probably a good point,’ said Courts. ‘Unfortunately, in the second half, we couldn’t get any rhythm and Hibs had the game’s best chances.’
It’s that struggle to find the net that has been undermining Hibs for much of Maloney’s tenure. The sale of Martin Boyle and loss of Kevin Nisbet to injury have obviously not helped and it has fallen to new teenage signing Melkersen to take up the mantle.
It would be wrong to be too harsh on the 19-year-old, but it says something that the one shot Hibs did manage to fire beyond Benjamin Siegrist came from a defender making his debut.
Maloney signed Harry Clarke on loan from Arsenal in January but the 21-year-old immediately picked up an injury.
Selected at left wing-back, the defender’s rustiness showed at the United goal as Tony Watt took him for a run to the byeline and squeezed over a cross that was headed back by Ryan Edwards for Graham to knock over the line. But he was soon showing his value as an attacking threat, powering forward and offering support to a three-man attack that looked a little lightweight.
Before scoring, Clarke had already gone closest for the home team, bashing a powerful shot just over, a moment that roused a home crowd that had been drowned out by an impressive United contingent.
As the game drifted into first-half stoppage-time, he found a deadlier finish.
Chris Cadden’s deep cross took out the entire United back three and Clarke controlled impressively on his right foot before drilling the ball home off his left.
‘We’ve missed him,’ said Maloney of the debutant. ‘Harry gives me options defensively and in attack, and you saw the speed and power that he brings.’
Wide right, Sylvester Jasper had been having one of those days and was withdrawn in favour of Ewan Henderson at the break. Henderson’s arrival brightened the attack up as both Melkersen and Chris Mueller saw efforts blocked before Maloney rolled the dice again, this time withdrawing defender Rocky Bushiri for Drey Wright.
And then a moment of controversy. Courts had sent on young Ghanaian Mathew Cudjoe for the last ten minutes and he found himself facing up Mueller in the box.
Mueller checked inside and then fell to the floor as Cudjoe tried to tackle. From the stand it looked as if Mueller had left his leg hanging, hoping for contact and falling when it came. Don Robertson weighed up what he had seen and agreed, booking the American for simulation.
‘From what I’ve seen, it was maybe the wrong decision, but the officials have a difficult job,’ said Maloney.
‘They see it very quickly. For me, it was a bit harsh (to book him) because I thought it was a foul. If it’s wrong, it’s wrong. We move on.’
Melkersen then blew his big chance. Rolled in by Mueller at the back post, the young Norwegian lost all of his composure and skied his shot.
Maloney said: ‘Elias is devastated. But we have to remember he is a kid. He has to use that disappointment because there are big games coming up and he will have another chance.
‘He just has to make sure he has a different outcome.’
And there’s the rub. Hibs have scored just four times in their past six matches.
Ahead of back-to-back derbies that will conclude with a Scottish Cup semi-final, Maloney badly needs his forward players to start firing.