Greg Docherty’s influence, on-loan Hearts star, the weather, Hibs’ missed opportunity - this weekend's winners and losers

The winners and losers from football across the Lothians over the weekend

Greg Docherty played another key role for Hibs. Picture: SNS

WINNERS

Daniel Baur

The rangy Bonnyrigg Rose defender was the hero in the 3-2 win over Caledonian Braves. The on loan Hearts youngster popped up at the back post to volley in Lee Currie’s deep free-kick from close range. It arrived with just over ten minutes left after the teams swapped goals on two occasions in difficult conditions at Alliance Park. Baur was awarded man of the match for his role in the victory. It was a crucial three points as they took advantage of Kelty Hearts’ inaction this past weekend. There are now just three points between the sides at the top of the Lowland League with Rose in second. The New Dundas Park side have a game in hand while the teams still have to play each other twice, the first of which takes place on Saturday in Fife.

Greg Docherty

Once again the on loan Rangers midfielder played a starring role for Hibs in their 1-1 draw with Livingston at Easter Road. His influence is that of Stephane Omeonga this time last year. He tested Robby McCrorie early on after a fine driving run, nearly laid on a goal with a fantastic cross-pass and then set up Christian Doidge for the opening goal. The 23-year-old truly has added another dimension to the Hibs team. He is so effective at taking the ball from A to B with his surging runs, while he is the type of passer fans in Scotland enjoy. His first thought is always ‘can I play forward’. Docherty is making Hibs a fearsome opponent on the counter-attack.

Weather

The big winner of the weekend was the weather. It claimed its first victory on Friday night with Hearts’ trip to Paisley to face St Mirren. It then wiped out much of the Lowland League and East of Scotland fixture card with just a handful of games going ahead. Blackburn United and Sauchie managed to play around an hour of their Premier Division clash but snow forced an abandonment. Even at Easter Road, Hibs and Livingston had to contend with blustery conditions which has lessened the quality of a number of fixtures over the last few weeks.

LOSERS

Missed opportunity

Hibs fans will have been shaking their heads when the full-time whistle sounded at Easter Road on Saturday and the full-time scores from elsewhere in the Ladbrokes Premiership were announced. Three points against Livi would have been huge in the hunt for European football, putting Hibs just three points behind third-place Motherwell. The good news is that no ground was lost, but there is a big opportunity for Hibs (or Livingston) to make third place their own if they can find consistency in results, even more so before the league splits. Jack Ross’ men have a mixed bag in terms of fixtures coming up. They take on relegation battlers Hearts and Hamilton, a resurgent St Johnstone, while welcoming Celtic and travelling to Aberdeen which is already shaping up to be a cracker.

Hearts

Some fans may have seen Friday night’s cancellation at St Mirren as a blessing after witnessing a number of poor performances in recent weeks, especially with doubts surrounding Toby Sibbick and Liam Boyce. However, supporters watching the scores come in on Saturday will have seen the teams they needed to win – Aberdeen and Motherwell – go down to ten men, with Ross County and Hamilton putting points on the board. It could have been worse in terms of Accies who only managed to get a goalless draw at home to the Steelmen despite playing with a man advantage for more than 50 minutes. Yet the Staggies have put a big gap between themselves and Hearts. They took advantage of Dean Campbell’s red card to come from behind to beat the Dons and open a ten point gap over the Jam Tarts.

Edinburgh University

There has just been two league wins in 24 games for Edinburgh Uni as they remain embroiled in a very tight relegation battle. Four points separates the bottom four with Edinburgh third bottom having played more games than those around them. Their latest defeat arrived on Saturday when they fell to a 2-0 defeat at Berwick Rangers. It doesn’t get much easier in the comings weeks with fixtures against East Kilbride and Kelty Hearts.