This is how it feels (Dundee United 110820)

[Jonnyboy]

Three games, three wins, nine points and all gained in a different fashion. Against Killie we had a two goal lead and were pegged back to 2-1 following a wonder strike. Killie enjoyed the bulk of possession for the remainder of the game but the three points never looked in danger.

Against Livi we started on the front foot and pretty much stayed there throughout. We bossed the midfield, defended well and caused lots of problems with our attacking play. Against United we went with the same starting eleven, never looked in danger and won the points with a smashing goal by big Doidge.

This is a Hibs team that seems capable of adapting to suit a situation and so far that has worked very much in our favour. It wasn’t pretty at any point but it was effective.

The first half was a dull affair with little to enthuse about and the main talking point being the clash of heads between Robson and McGinn. I heard Micky Mellon’s post match interview and he was complaining about Robson’s yellow card. To me it was a stick on caution as Robson arrived at pace and aggressively and even supposing he hadn’t had to go off he was on a yellow regardless.

The second half started a bit like the first – no decent passages of play and a lot of misplaced passes from both sides. It wasn’t pretty if truth be told but on the hour mark Hibs carved out a chance when Nisbet just couldn’t get enough on the ball from just outside the six yard box. The chance was set up when Boyle used his pace to get down the right and deliver a good cross which Doidge got something on.

Five minutes later and Boyle was involved again. McGinn played a fine ball into the outside right area and Boyle got there ahead of his marker. This time though, he cut inside and fed Gogic who hoisted the ball towards the eighteen yard line. Nisbet got the slightest of touches which took Connolly out of the game and the ball reached Doig who forced it past his marker. Doidge gathered and created the space to send a fine left foot shot high into the net past Siegrist.

Hibs settled after that and went looking for a second but the final ball just wasn’t there. Nisbet hit a shot on target but it was weak and Siegrist collected easily. At the other end, Peter Pawlett should have done better than hooking a shot high over the bar.

The clock ticked down and Hibs never looked in trouble as they held on for three fantastic points. Watching on Sky is never good fun and it’s made all the less enjoyable by the inane comments of Andy Walker who has the skill of stating the bleeding obvious down to a fine art.

The players

Marciano – Rocky had little or nothing to do and I can only really recall him having one save in the game. Distribution dropped below the level of last week’s but I’ll be happy if he’s as busy in future games.

McGinn – Took a really sore one in that head clash but got up, dusted himself off and went on to complete a solid 90 minutes – again.

Porteous – Big Ryan will never have it this easy again. Nicky Clark was woeful and Appere wasn’t much better.

Hanlon – Another good 90 minutes from our captain and it was good to see him pressing Hibs forward on occasions by joining in the build up play.

Doig – The lad had a fine game although it was a bit worrying that Bolton skipped past him on the inside a couple of times. Josh was excellent going forward and seems to have limitless energy.

Boyle – I thought Boyler was quiet for most of the first half but thankfully whatever ailment he needed treatment for didn’t affect him coming on to a good game in the second half.

Newell – Joe was much quieter today and got himself a silly early booking. Later, he had to leave play before the end after a head knock in a challenge with Peter Pawlett.

Gocic – I thought he was quieter today but effective when it counted. He was involved in the move that led to the only goal and his quick thinking in delivering a ball to the edge of the box early was crucial in determining the outcome.

Horgan – Daryl was great against Killie and put in a fine shift today, especially defensively in protecting Doig. I was a little surprised when he was substituted to be honest.

Nisbet – The first half was torture for him as he got little or no service to work from. He got better in the second and once again there were glimpses of a good partnership with Doidge.

Doidge – Like Nisbet he got scraps to work with in the first half but even so he put himself about, coming short, laying off etc. In the second half the service improved and he was a constant thorn in the flesh of United’s central defence.

Allan – Scotty replaced Horgan, Jack Ross hoping his trickery could open up United’s defence. Things didn’t quite work out that way but Scott put a decent shift in physically which I know he’s been criticised for not doing before.

Hallberg – Melker replaced the injured Joe Newell for the last ten minutes or so and played his part in keeping United out.

Man of the match – Horgan was in with a shout; Doidge came close thanks to his winning goal but for me the calmest and most impressive Hibby on the park was Paul McGinn.

Jack Ross – Three out of three must please him enormously.

The fans – I tried to imagine what the feeling would be amongst us had we all been there. I’m pretty sure disappointment until we scored and ramping up to elated at the final whistle.

Don Robertson – I thought he was too quick with yellow cards early in the game and feared that we might be reduced to ten later in the game but thankfully he did ok otherwise and was particularly good with the advantage rule.

[matty_f]

The first half was awful, second half was a bit better with the fish being the real highlight of the game.

I thought we deserved the points, it wasn’t a pretty game but defensively we were superb and that’s the positive (along with the win) that i take from the performance.

Not a game to write home about, but a good win nonetheless.

[Unseen work]

Another great win but not the best performance, makes it all that sweeter imo.

Still think we’re 2 or so players away from going from a good team to a really good team. The main difference this season is we look absolutely solid defensively, we’ve not conceded from open play but not just that, I can hardly think of the opposition creating a decent chance.

Still work to do and a good few players to come in. We have now lost 9 players, it will be 10 once you include James and only brought in 3. I’d imagine a couple of youngsters to go out on loan too.

[greenlex]

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The first half was awful, second half was a bit better with the fish being the real highlight of the game.

I thought we deserved the points, it wasn’t a pretty game but defensively we were superb and that’s the positive (along with the win) that i take from the performance.

Not a game to write home about, but a good win nonetheless.

Was it a nonshiny fish?

[Onceinawhile]

Game was absolutely terrible. One bit of quality from doidge has won it.

Thought the back 4 or 3 were absolutely solid.

[Jonnyboy]

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Another great win but not the best performance, makes it all that sweeter imo.

Still think we’re 2 or so players away from going from a good team to a really good team. The main difference this season is we look absolutely solid defensively, we’ve not conceded from open play but not just that, I can hardly think of the opposition creating a decent chance.

Still work to do and a good few players to come in. We have now lost 9 players, it will be 10 once you include James and only brought in 3. I’d imagine a couple of youngsters to go out on loan too.

Agree. No real chances from open play in all three games. Long may it continue

[matty_f]

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Was it a nonshiny fish?

🤣 it was a very shiny fish. Or finish.

[Phil MaGlass]

I got the feeling Newell was a nap to be sent off maybe it was just me.
Anyhoos, 3pts is 3pts. Well done lads, defence looked solid

[BILLYHIBS]

Brilliant Jonnyboy as usual spot on

Agree about Andy Walker ex HIBS players tend to get us and know what we are about but he seemed to be anti-HIBS and continually looking for awards against us that simply weren’t there

The man is a prick!

[brog]

Great as ever John. I actually thought Don Robertson was much better than before, particularly with his attempts to play advantage. My major grumble was his failure to book Reynolds, just after booking 2 Hibs players for similar offences & giving DU a free kick when the world class diver Pawlett threw himself at Newell, injuring JN in the process. AS for Mellon complaining about the booking for Robson

[Davy Mac]

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Brilliant Jonnyboy as usual spot on

Agree about Andy Walker ex HIBS players tend to get us and know what we are about but he seemed to be anti-HIBS and continually looking for awards against us that simply weren’t there

The man is a prick!

Totally agree, he even suggested Doidge was only in for the goal because the DUTD defender was carrying an injury of some kind and couldn't stop him.

Nothing about Doig's persistence in winning the ball so high up the pitch and a great finish by Doidge surrounded by 3 defenders.

[Argylehibby]

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Great as ever John. I actually thought Don Robertson was much better than before, particularly with his attempts to play advantage. My major grumble was his failure to book Reynolds, just after booking 2 Hibs players for similar offences & giving DU a free kick when the world class diver Pawlett threw himself at Newell, injuring JN in the process. AS for Mellon complaining about the booking for Robson

I thought Robson was lucky to get away with a yellow to be honest, he was never getting the ball and it was reckless. I thought Newall might have been given a 2nd yellow for Pawlett throwing himself at him but thankfully he didn't.

Oh and great summary as always John.

[PeeJay]

Interesting read as ever - some decent individual performances, but we really need to pass the ball better and make more of our main threats upfront - service to Boyle, Doidge and Nisbett must be much better, we looked more creative with Allan on the park too - we got lucky with the goal, surely, should have been called offside for Doig?

[malcolm]

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Interesting read as ever - some decent individual performances, but we really need to pass the ball better and make more of our main threats upfront - service to Boyle, Doidge and Nisbett must be much better, we looked more creative with Allan on the park too - we got lucky with the goal, surely, should have been called offside for Doig?

Not seen any footage that clearly indicates offside and where you would have expected the linesman to see and flag. The introduction of VAR has lead to a view of things not visible in real time getting undeserved importance. Football should not be officiated through a forensic microscope in a way that more often than not rules out goals that could not be ruled out in real time. Goals are whole point of the game and the focus of the excitement but VAR in England, by not going for rectification only of clear and obvious errors, takes away spontaneity. It also benefits mostly defenders not the attackers. Had this goal been ruled out it would have been a goal where the forward was faced with a tight angle and had four opponents in between him and the goal line. They would not have deserved the intervention of a computerised digital slide rule.

[PeeJay]

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Not seen any footage that clearly indicates offside and where you would have expected the linesman to see and flag. The introduction of VAR has lead to a view of things not visible in real time getting undeserved importance. Football should not be officiated through a forensic microscope in a way that more often than not rules out goals that could not be ruled out in real time. Goals are whole point of the game and the focus of the excitement but VAR in England, by not going for rectification only of clear and obvious errors, takes away spontaneity. It also benefits mostly defenders not the attackers. Had this goal been ruled out it would have been a goal where the forward was faced with a tight angle and had four opponents in between him and the goal line. They would not have deserved the intervention of a computerised digital slide rule.

Saw it on Hibs TV myself - with my own eyes - not a computerised digital thingy - we got away with it, it happens, and it will often enough go the other way, i.e. against us, as it does in football.

Read a newspaper report elsewhere that said he was "slightly" offside - yeah right!

We have VAR here in Germany and we have had some truly questionable decisions being made, such as teams coming back out during the HT break between Mainz and Freiburg because a penalty that was not given was then retroactively given and had to be taken after all

- Personally i would have left it the way it was - then this goal would have counted too, still, as the linesman/ref missed it ...

[Borderhibbie76]

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Interesting read as ever - some decent individual performances, but we really need to pass the ball better and make more of our main threats upfront - service to Boyle, Doidge and Nisbett must be much better, we looked more creative with Allan on the park too - we got lucky with the goal, surely, should have been called offside for Doig?

Not exactly sure where u are getting the clear offside from? Hos big toe perhaps was offside but very very tight and inconclusive at best

[O'Rourke3]

Good match report as always JB.

Great result in a dour game. Grinding out 0-1 at places like Tannadice is a great habit to form. Long may it continue.

[PeeJay]

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Not exactly sure where u are getting the clear offside from? Hos big toe perhaps was offside but very very tight and inconclusive at best

Yeah, I didn't write "clearly" offside though did I? Then again, you can't actually be "slightly" offside can you: either you are or you aren't.
Wasn't given here anyway so it's all academic, I guess. Just thought it worth mentioning ... we will have decisions that go against us if the season plays out ...

[RyeSloan]

He’s offside, no doubt about it.

[Argylehibby]

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He’s offside, no doubt about it.

Can you see the utd players other foot? He probably is offside but it isn't clear from the pic. Going off at a tangent though if we had VAR we would have had a penalty in the first half.

[Kato]

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Can you see the utd players other foot? He probably is offside but it isn't clear from the pic. Going off at a tangent though if we had VAR we would have had a penalty in the first half.

Strangely they never showed the pen claim on Sportscene.

[hibeejeebies]

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Not exactly sure where u are getting the clear offside from? Hos big toe perhaps was offside but very very tight and inconclusive at best

This. And inconclusive should always favour the attacking side IMO.

[RyeSloan]

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Can you see the utd players other foot? He probably is offside but it isn't clear from the pic. Going off at a tangent though if we had VAR we would have had a penalty in the first half.

The United player would have to have the weirdest left leg for it to be at an angle that would make Doig onside that’s for sure!!

Anyway we don’t have VAR and thankfully this goes down as one for the good guys!

What was the first half penalty incident?

[JimBHibees]

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The United player would have to have the weirdest left leg for it to be at an angle that would make Doig onside that’s for sure!!

Anyway we don’t have VAR and thankfully this goes down as one for the good guys!

What was the first half penalty incident?

Can you not see part of his leg to the left of Josh's left arm. Might have been sprinting out to get in line with his teammates?

[RyeSloan]

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Can you not see part of his leg to the left of Josh's left arm. Might have been sprinting out to get in line with his teammates?

Naa he’s standing static and actually takes a small step back when you see it in real time.

Anyhoo looks pretty clear to me he was offside but hey if others want to argue over missing left legs then so be it

[Jones28]

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The United player would have to have the weirdest left leg for it to be at an angle that would make Doig onside that’s for sure!!

Anyway we don’t have VAR and thankfully this goes down as one for the good guys!

What was the first half penalty incident?

We’ve had a penalty not given go against us already, I’ll take these wee breaks every day of the week.

Actually felt United were lucky to have 11 men on the pitch after the Mcginn injury.

[mal]

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He’s offside, no doubt about it.

That still is not conclusive evidence. You can't see the United player's foot, you can't judge the angle properly and the ball has already left the foot of our player - you can see grass in between - so there's a split second of time in which Doig's and the United player's position will have changed in relation to one another.

[Mikey]

John - In keeping with the spirit of your previous match reports, I hope you close your eyes and put your fingers in your ears when they show a replay.

We can't have you getting an easy ride

[RyeSloan]

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We’ve had a penalty not given go against us already, I’ll take these wee breaks every day of the week.

Actually felt United were lucky to have 11 men on the pitch after the Mcginn injury.

Totally agree on all counts.

IF he was offside (sheesh last time I get embroiled in one of these debates ) then it’s a nice break to get and 100% I thought the McGinn challenge was a red all day long.

[Lago]

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Not exactly sure where u are getting the clear offside from? Hos big toe perhaps was offside but very very tight and inconclusive at best

Correct!