Hibs 0 - 2 Dundee Utd: The Tayside Messi mesmerises as Hibs slump to defeat

After Gary Mackay-Steven ripped the Hibs defence apart for the umpteenth time at Easter Road on Saturday, the tangerine-clad denizens of the away end began to chant: “Are you Messi in disguise?”

On a few occasions, the comparisons with Lionel Messi, the maestro of Barcelona, were not misplaced. Mackay-Steven is slightly taller than the Argentine superstar, but he can dribble and pass in best Messi style.

The chants started after one mesmerising, slaloming run in the second half that ended with Mackay-Steven under pressure and blazing his shot just over the bar. It says a lot about him that the lad himself was critical of the effort.

“It was a good run but a bad finish,” he said. “It was nice to do and I just want to try and do it again.”

Nor did he even notice the Messi chant. “I didn’t realise it until the end when someone said it to me, and obviously that’s nice to hear.”

At 21, with spells at Ross Country, Liverpool and Airdrie United behind him, Mackay-Steven is blossoming under the tuition of manager Peter Houston, and despite talk of big-money moves, this level-headed Thurso-born striker-cum-winger will make a lot of Tannadice people happy with the pledge he has made.

“I see my future at Dundee United just now,” said Mackay-Steven. “They gave me my chance and I am enjoying my football right now. With the team we’ve got I feel we can go places, so my future is here.

“I’m playing every week. That’s what I need, and I feel good and fit. Long may it continue.” With United in rampant form in the SPL, Mackay-Steven is being given plenty opportunities to get into the attacking positions he loves, and he is sure there’s more to come.

He said: “We all have confidence in each other, even the boys coming in and waiting for their chance. There’s a lot of talented boys in the squad and you know you have to perform or you’ll be out because of the level of talent we’ve got. We’re a close-knit bunch and I think it shows on the pitch.”

A dominant second half against Hibs, crowned by goals from Mackay-Steven and raiding partner Johnny Russell, saw United clinch a top six place and boost their chances of European football.

Their manager Peter Houston is not resigned to losing Mackay-Steven and Russell – yet.

He explained: “The two boys know themselves that it wouldn’t do them any harm to stay where they are, get even better and learn the game. It depends – we might get offered silly money and the chairman might try to exchange it but, from a playing point of view, the players want to stay and learn further.

“That’s not to say that, in future – but not the near future – they might want to move on to bigger and better things and I will be the first to push them out the door.”

In a mist-covered Easter Road Stadium, Mackay-Steven admitted: “Hibs perhaps shaded the half and maybe were a bit unlucky just to go in nil-nil.”

Had a shot from Leigh Griffiths – who kept his starting place despite a reported training-ground fallout with manager Pat Fenlon – not hit the post, the home team might have gone on to win. However, United’s second-half showing was decisive, helped by Hibs becoming lost in a miasma of their own making.

Pa Saikou Kujabi, the Gambian signed in January on an 18-month contract after spells with Austrian clubs Grazer AK, SV Reid and Frankfurt in Germany, said: “Losing last week and again this week is very hard for everyone involved with the team.

“I am staying positive that we can stay in the league and we don’t have to be looking down all the time. We have to look up and be ready to fight week in, and week out.”

With former Hearts manager Jim Jefferies now in charge at Dunfermline, whose draw with St Mirren brought them to within three points of Hibs, there is an added frisson to those Easter Road fans contemplating the current relegation battle.

The time for escape action is now, they will feel. Others will feel it is long overdue.