Dundee United move off bottom spot - but Hibs spurn incredible chances and have goal controversially ruled out

Dundee United's Aziz Behich is mobbed by his team-mates after scoring the opener against Hibs.

Liam Fox’s men prevailed 1-0 thanks to lovely goal from Aziz Behich early in the first half, but Hibs will rue some truly woeful finishing and a highly contentious decision from referee Euan Anderson to intervene on the one occasion they did find the net.

It was a desperately disappointing match for Hibs’ Ukrainian striker Mykola Kukharevych, who missed three very good chances and had what looked like a legitimate goal ruled out. He was not the only sinner for Lee Johnson’s team – had they scored five, United could not have grumbled too much – and had they got one, the floodgates would surely have opened.

Not that United will care. When you are bottom of the league, you take the breaks when they come. They played their part in this frantic, open and highly entertaining encounter and benefited from the one moment of real quality. They are now 11th on goal difference, one of three teams along with new basement boys Ross County and Kilmarnock on eight points. Confidence is building.

The 4-0 win over Aberdeen at the weekend made it easy for Fox to select the same XI and the 3-4-3 formation means they carry a punch in attack, especially down the flanks. Behich’s goal, on 11 minutes, was a great example of this, the Australian wing-back scoring with a cute finish after a clever one-two Dylan Levitt.

The flip-side to the attack-minded approach is that United still look like they will concede goals, and would have done here had Hibs’ forward players showed an iota of composure. However, United’s goalkeeper Carljohan Eriksson did very well with some smart saves, the pick of the bunch being towards the end when he turned a Kukharevych scissor-kick over the bar.

The first of Kukharevych’s misses came on 25 minutes. A routine long ball was not dealt with by Ryan Edwards, allowing the Ukrainian to outmuscle him. The 21-year-old’s effort was too central but Eriksson showed good agility to stop it.

The Finn was called into action again on 33 minutes, denying Martin Boyle after a Behich slip permitted Ryan Porteous’ long ball to land into his path. Then the moment of controversy came along.

Kukharevych diverted Elie Youan’s bicycle kick home but the referee ruled it out. In real time, there didn’t seem an obvious reason why and replays were inconclusive. Hibs coach Adam Owen was booked for his protests.

Kukharevych’s luckless night continued, a fresh-air swipe from close range summing up his match so far and Hibs went into the break wondering how they were a goal down.

Johnson did not wait to change it up. Harry McKirdy and Ewan Henderson replaced Youan and Kenneh, with McKirdy making the wrong choice to shoot rather than cut the ball back to a posse of Hibs players on 55 minutes. Then Hibs wasted a four-on-one opportunity. The game was ragged. Another goal appeared to be in the post.

It wasn’t going to come for Kukharevych, though. The on-loan Troyes man led the line well and linked up neatly but missed another glaring chance, latching on to a short Craig Sibbald back-pass but dallying too long and then shooting meekly at Eriksson. And then on the hour-mark, a net-bound diving header from Porteous hit off Josh Campbell and away from goal, before Boyle slashed a shot high over the bar from inside the box. United were living incredibly dangerously.

Kukharevych did connect well with an 80th-minute overhead kick but as Eriksson sprung to save it, it became apparent that this was most definitely United’s night, surviving a late siege and finally six minutes of stoppage time.