Stuart Bathgate: Griffiths’ goals hint at better times for Hibs

Not because they won a football match – although the 3-2 win at St Mirren was reason enough for celebration – but because they did so without needing a goal from Garry O’Connor.

When Hibs beat St Johnstone 3-2 in the SPL, O’Connor scored twice. When they beat Motherwell 2-2 in the League Cup (well, 7-6 on penalties, if you prefer), O’Connor scored twice. When they won at Inverness for the first time, the winning goal two minutes into stoppage time came from, you’ve guessed it, O’Connor. He even scored in their cup win over Berwick.

And until Saturday, when Leigh Griffiths scored two and Sean O’Hanlon got the other, that was the sum total of Hibs’ wins for the season: two in the league and two in the League Cup. Little wonder that one of the most common questions heard from Hibs fans this season has been “Where would we be without Garry O’Connor?”

When they were at or close to the bottom of the table – they travelled to Paisley just a point ahead of Caley Thistle and Dunfermline – a facetious but accurate answer could have been “More or less where you are now, only a little worse off.” Or “You won’t have to wait long to find out – he’s a free agent in January.”

In truth, the striker was the one undisputed bright spot of a dreary first couple of months of the season for Hibs, as Colin Calderwood struggled to get a decent performance out of the team. They still have some way to go before they can be deemed free from the threat of relegation, but Griffiths’ goals do suggest there could be better things to come, and are a sign that the Easter Road club are not wholly dependent on O’Connor.

Every silver lining has its cloud, of course, and for some Hibs fans the down side of the win was its probable consequence for their manager. Or, as one of them put it at full-time (his remarks have been censored for family reading): “Oh dear. That’s Calderwood’s job safe for another month.”