Rory Whittaker becomes Hibs history-maker as Nick Montgomery lifts lid on decision to hand debut to youngest ever player

Nick Montgomery marked his first home match as Hibs manager with his first victory. But he wasn’t the only one celebrating a landmark moment as he handed 16 year-old Rory Whittaker his first team debut.

Hibs manager Nick Montgomery and Rory Whittaker applaud fans at full time after the 2-0 win over St Johnstone. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

Coming on as a 70th minute substitute, the teenage full-back wrote himself into the record books as the youngest ever player to feature for Hibs in the top tier. At 16 years and 44 days, he beat Jamie McCluskey’s record by 35 days.

“He’s a local boy, he’s been in the academy a long time and there is no better feeling than giving a young lad like him his debut. But more than that he deserved it. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have got it, and I thought he took his opportunity with both hands.

“He’s not a winger, he’s a full back, but we have had a lack of wide players. I was going to put Lewis Miller further up the field but he was defending those diagonal balls to the back post really well.

“So it was an opportunity to put him on and take a little bit of pressure off him defensively. I thought he worked his socks off and I am really proud of him.”

Comfortable 2-0 winners, Hibs moved up to fifth spot, above rivals Hearts. Delighted with the outcome, Montgomery knows that they could have won by more, with all of his front men passing up chances. Whittaker was also unlucky as St Johnstone keeper Dimitar Mitov got out to foil his scoring attempt. But, according to his gaffer, the fact the youngster, who only signed a professional contract this summer, was on the pitch to gain that opportunity sends a positive message.

“It could have been one of those moments for young Rory. If he had scored his first goal the roof would have come off Easter Road. I’m really happy for him making his debut, that’s one of the many positives of the last few weeks.

“For young players at the football club and young players in and around the area who maybe choose a different club over coming to Hibs, today was an opportunity to show there’s a pathway into the first team and Rory more than deserved his chance.

“I saw him play against Rangers last week and was very impressed with him. And when he trained with the first team his attitude was spot on.

“I’m really happy with the overall performance,” added the gaffer, who will now turn his attention to Wednesday night’s Viaplay Cup quarter final against St Mirren. “In the first half we were a little nervy, the crowd wanted the boys to go forward at every opportunity but I thought we showed some good composure and created some very good chances.

“Second half we showed composure in terms of our build up and created a lot of opportunities. We made 20 chances and if we do that every week with the quality we have in the team hopefully we’ll score more goals.

“The clean sheet was really important. David Marshall has had two shots [to deal with] and made two saves but one was a really big save. That’s why he’s massively important to the club.”