Hibs 0 - 2 Dundee Utd: United youngsters shine

FROM about the start of the second half onwards, the only danger to Dundee United winning this match was whether the haar would close in much thicker and force an abandonment.

Against a Hibs side which was as wispy as the tendrils of fog rolling in from the Firth of Forth, United were in complete command for as one-sided a second half as you will see all season.

The result confirms that United will be in the top six after the split, while Hibs can only be grateful that Dunfermline did not take full points against St Mirren. The Easter Road club just can’t seem t o escape the relegation battle.

United’s killer kids, Gary Mackay-Steven and Johnny Russell, won this match with their goals and pacy play. They are diamonds, and manager Peter Houston knows they will move on but insists they need another 12 to 18 months at Tannadice to become finished articles.

Reports of a training ground rammie involving Leigh Griffiths, manager Pat Fenlon and his assistant Billy Brown were obviously greatly exaggerated as the on-loan striker kept his place. The match started with the haar swirling round the stadium, lending an eerie air to proceedings. The plethora of empty seats might have made this a dreich, almost a ghostly occasion, except for the fact that there was firecracking entertainment on the pitch.

Hibs might have been a goal behind inside 60 seconds, Gavin Gunning’s shot off Mackay-Steven’s corner being blocked by Graham Stack.

The first half was then as even and competitive as the second half wasn’t. Hibs almost went ahead after ten minutes when Griffiths hit the post with a shot that followed George Francomb’s corner, before Jon Daly rose to head Paul Dixon’s free kick goalwards, Stack arching back to tip the ball over.

It was good end-to-end stuff, Stack plucking the ball off Daly’s head as he rose to score, before Dusan Pernis saved from Griffiths. Sean Dillon shot over the bar at the other end.

There were fewer chances in the second quarter, but the second half was all United. So often the hero for his side these days, captain Daly should have put his team two up inside the first four minutes of the second half as he twice failed to convert fine crosses from Mackay-Steven. Russell then tried to curl one from fully 25 yards out on the angle, the ball deflecting just wide.

Seconds later at the other end, Gunning stuck his leg out and watched in horror as the ball curved away from Pernis but also wide of the post. That was to be Hibs’ only chance for the best part of half-an-hour as United became totally dominant.

Mackay-Steven almost turned predator rather than provider, firing a shot into the ground which Stack knew little about but managed to fend away. The United youngster then went on a mazy run, and had his shot gone under instead of over the bar, we would have seen a candidate for goal of the season.

It was all United at this point as Mackay-Steven and Russell had Hibs’ defence at sixes and sevens. Fenlon sent on Ivan Sproule and Garry O’Connor for Tom Soares and Roy O’Donovan, but practically the first thing they had to do was line up for a restart.

For United’s incessant pressure finally told in the 66th minute when Willo Flood made the space for Rankin to fire in a shot which Stack did well to stop only for Russell to beat everyone to the rebound and slide the ball home.

Six minutes later, the other member of the dynamic young duo got the reward he deserved for his excellence. Russell spotted the space behind the defenders and his immediate despatch sent Mackay-Steven clear on the left. He charged towards the goal and from a tight angle blasted in a low one which Stack seemed to have covered, only for the ball to emerge from under the goalkeeper’s body and trickle into the net.

The loss of Daly with a bad head cut that needed six stitches stemmed United’s flow but weak late efforts by Sproule and O’Connor summed up Hibs’ day – they tried, but were simply nowhere near good enough.

“At the start of the game the urgency was there,” said Hibs’ manager Fenlon, “but when things go against us they need to dig in and be harder to beat and be stronger mentally.”

Houston. meanwhile. conceded he had given his men “a bit of a blast at half-time” and his players responded: “I am delighted with the three points. I told them to be more positive and to a man they upped the tempo and we performed exceptionally well in the second half.”