Hibs debrief: Kevin Nisbet saves the day, Ryan Porteous' slack first-minute pass, questions over team selection

A look back at Saturday’s game as Kevin Nisbet scores twice to rescue a point for Hibs against Dundee United.
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Player of the match

One of the easiest choices there will be all season. Without Kevin Nisbet then Hibs don’t get a point and could have even been embarrassed by a Dundee United side who could have had a greater lead than their 2-1 advantage at the break. The striker has played better in terms of his all-round game, but there’s no doubting the quality of his two goals. He had to fashion the space himself in both instances and planted a pair of top-class finishes into the far corner.

Defining moment

Kevin Nisbet celebrates after earning Hibs a point with an equaliser deep into stoppage time, his second goal of the game. Picture: SNSKevin Nisbet celebrates after earning Hibs a point with an equaliser deep into stoppage time, his second goal of the game. Picture: SNS
Kevin Nisbet celebrates after earning Hibs a point with an equaliser deep into stoppage time, his second goal of the game. Picture: SNS

Let’s go for something which happened within the first 60 seconds. Ryan Porteous, dropping deep from his newly-appointed role in the centre of midfield, tried to play a dangerous pass to Will Fish that was cut out by Steven Fletcher and led to a shooting chance for Arnaud Djoum. It set the tone for what was at times in the first half a shambolic performance from Hibs who were really at sixes and sevens, especially defensively. Overall it wasn’t a great display by Porteous, whose focus may be affected by speculation surrounding his immediate future.

Ref watch

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As usual the home crowd weren’t impressed with the official but Colin Steven didn’t have any big decisions to make in this one.

Benefit of hindsight

Ryan Porteous in midfield. Josh Campbell at right-back. Elie Youan playing the full 90. There were a good few aspects of this game where you can question Lee Johnson's judgement. He is hamstrung by injuries in defence and midfield, but there was still plenty of experience in the starting XI and on the bench. It’s just an issue that many of them can’t be trusted to put in a performance at this moment in time, which goes back to questions around the summer recruitment and whether they can bring in the required standard of player this month.

Moment you may have missed

Glenn Middleton gave it the “shush” gesture after opening the scoring for Dundee United. It was potentially in response to some criticism from a crowd who remember him for being an underwhelming during his prior stint at Easter Road.

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