Mickey Weir: Why it's essential Hibs see more of Saturday's heroics from Jake Doyle-Hayes

The win against Ross County last Saturday wasn’t exactly vintage stuff, but the most important thing was getting the three points, our first league win this year, and that’s exactly what happened.

We could see that a few of the Hibs players are beginning to find their feet, getting into the rhythm of how the manager is trying to play. I thought we looked a bit more positive in the 2-0 home win, especially going forward. We looked a lot less hesitant. In the second half especially you could see signs that it's going to improve as time goes on.

They particularly looked strong defensively. If you keep clean sheets then you've always got a chance in football and that wasn't happening previously. This season we've been losing too many goals at home. Generally we looked pretty strong at the back, especially as the game went on after we survived a couple of shaky moments in the first half. But Ross County are a good attacking team and we limited them to very little.

We need to remember, it's not easy when you bring so many players in, like we did in January, and you've got another six first-team starters out through injury. It's going to take a bit of time for Shaun Maloney to get his own team together. It's difficult to try allow new players to settle into a squad while winning football games at the same time.

Jake Doyle-Hayes celebrates after scoring his second goal against Ross County in the 2-0 win at Easter Road. Picture: SNS

I still think we can play better. We're beginning to look like more of a threat going forward. It's about building it slowly but surely.

The match was won thanks to a couple of great goals, terrific finishes, from Jake Doyle-Hayes. It's something he needs to add to his game. It's what you need from any midfielder player. You need them to chip in with a goal from time to time.

It's a trait of the modern day, unfortunately, where players are told they're a sitting midfield player. To me, anybody can be a sitting midfielder but you need to get goals in the team. You can't just be relying on your strikers or your wide players. Midfielders have to chip in as well. It’s the same for defenders. You need to have a strong threat from set-pieces to really share goals around the team. If you do that then you're going to have a successful season.

That's what Doyle-Hayes did at the weekend. He got forward to support, got his shots away and showed that there's definitely goals in him, because those strikes were of real quality. It's about him now continually getting into those positions.

He's a tidy player with great quality on the ball. I just want to see him taking more risks. It's not just on him to be fair, too many players like him are being asked just to sit behind the ball. Although, I'd like to think our manager would be telling him to get forward more and to try and be more adventurous in his play. It's absolutely essential for the team if he can do that.

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