Elie Youan reveals just how close he was to Hibs hooking as Nick Montgomery's pep talk pays off against Hearts

Elie Youan struck twice within 90 seconds to give Hibs a share of the points at Tynecastle in the first Edinburgh derby of the season – but the Frenchman revealed that his vital contribution only came about after manager Nick Montgomery warned him he was on borrowed time.

Nick Montgomery applauds the Hibs fans after the 2-2 draw against Hearts.

Annoyed with his side’s first half showing in Gorgie, the new Hibs gaffer, who was overseeing his first capital tussle, laid into his troops at half-time and warned them there would be consequences if they did not lift their standards. “To be honest he spoke especially to me,” said Youan. “If I didn’t play good for the first ten minutes (of the second half) I would be off so it was a bit of pressure. But I was confident, you know. I know how I play and it was important to show our strength and to show how confident we are.”

Two goals down by the 58th minute, following a superb Alan Forrest strike and a Christian Doidge own goal, Hibs showed character to bounce back and Youan was at the heart of it with efforts in the 66th and 68th minute. “Yes, I gave him ten minutes and he showed me the reaction I wanted,” admitted Montgomery. “He stood up big and when it calmed down, we controlled the game a lot better and were finding passes. The pace we have going forward was something we didn’t utilise in the first half but later we had a lot more positive attacks going forward and that was us playing our game instead of being sucked into the emotion and knocking it long. You have to compete and we didn’t compete well enough in the first half. In the second half, we were very good.”

Fired up by the half-time pep talk, the 24-year-old successfully turned the tide. “We conceded the two goals, but we knew, if we play as we know we can, we come back in the game and we did,” he said. “But I think we expected the win so it’s a bit frustrating because in the first half. Me, I didn’t concentrate, lost some easy balls. That’s why we came in the second half with all the intention.”

While the victory eluded them, Youan described his double as one of the highlights of his Hibs career. "Yeah - I know how important the derby games (are) especially. If you score in this game, you are a hero so it was important for me and for the team to not lose. We take the point. The 11 starters and the substitutions, everybody is involved in the game and we are very, like a family. We are confident and we work good during the week for the training. That’s why we stay confident in the game, whatever happens we stick together - that’s the words of the gaffer.

“He says always stick together no matter what happens so today I think maybe in the stands people were thinking we were going to lose but we knew that we’re not going to lose and we were still expected for the win even at 2-0 for Hearts. You know everything can happen in the game and I used to say you can score three goals in five minutes and I scored two goals in two minutes!”