Elias Melkersen: Hibs boss explains why teenage forward had to bide his time

Hibs manager Shaun Maloney praised the work Elias Melkersen has put in since joining the club in January after the 19-year-old scored both goals in the 2-1 win over Motherwell.

Shaun Maloney congratulates Elias Melkersen after his two goals for Hibs.

A January transfer window signing from Bodo/Glimt, Melkersen scored a first-half brace in his first start for Hibs to put ten-man Motherwell to the sword, who paid the price for having Bevis Mugabi sent off within 60 seconds.

Melkersen had made two substitute appearances prior to being handed a start at Fir Park and Maloney said the Norwegian had to take “huge credit” for his development.

"We couldn't really throw him in,” said Maloney. “The last six weeks, he has to take huge credit for what he's done and some of the coaches have worked really hard with him. He's worked so hard to get to a position where he can perform like that."It's just amazing, it's his first start and he can take every bit of credit and be really proud with what he did today, two brilliant goals."“He's only 19 - he's set a fairly high bar - but they were different types of goals and he had another chance in the first half."He's just worked extremely hard. He's got a great mentality, he understood the process coming in, and he's earned that start."Christian Doidge has had a really tough time with injury but I'm going to have to rely on him as well until the end of the season so with those two as nines, it's really positive."Maloney was asked whether Melkersen was lucky to escape a red card for overcelebrating. Following a booking for a flailing arm, the teenager got close to the away support and flirted with a second card. Maloney, however, reckons common sense prevailed."He's a young man so I think when you score your first two goals for a new club in a new country, I think [referee] Willie Collum probably made the right decision,” said Maloney. “He was very, very excited and rightly so, he's worked extremely hard to have moments like that."

Asked about Mugabi’s red card for a lunge on Josh Doig, Maloney added: "I've seen a wide angle of it, it doesn't look like a good tackle but I've not seen it slow motion. I think from speaking to my players it probably was, and there was another one on Drey Wright that didn't look great either, but these things happen.”

A message from the Editor: Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.