Strikeforce, VAR, and winning ugly - 3 talking points from Hibs' win against Dundee Utd

Patrick McPartlin looks at three talking points from Hibs’ hard-fought win against Dundee United

Kevin Nisbet battles hard for the ball

Doidge and Nisbet

Kevin Nisbet and Christian Doidge have now played two matches as a strike partnership, with five goals between them in two games.

Both players have their individual merits but the fact the pair looked to have gelled so early on can only bring benefits to Hibs.

It will be particularly cheering for Jack Ross that the Welshman has scored two in two after missing a sizeable chunk of pre-season through injury.

There may have been an element of good fortune about his goal against Livingston but he showed a real striker's instinct in grabbing the winner against Dundee United.

Doidge has linked up well with Marc McNulty, Florian Kamberi, and Jamie Gullan already during his Hibs career – but it’s the current partnership with Nisbet that seems to be firing on all cylinders.

So close yet so VAR

Josh Doig was marginally offside in the lead-up to Christian Doidge's goal and had this game been played in a country with Video Assistant Referees (VAR), there's a good chance the strike would have been ruled out.

But in first-half injury time, the goalscorer had a fairly strong shout for a penalty after Mark Connolly appeared to tug him back as a cross came into the box.

Given what we saw in England last season, there's every chance that VAR would have awarded the penalty and Hibs could have been in front at the break, which would almost certainly have changed the course of the second 45. It’s not unthinkable that, with VAR in Scottish football, the penalty might have been given, and the goal chalked off to even things out.

The element of chance is one of the enjoyable aspects of football – it would truly be a shame to lose it from the game.

Winning ugly

Hibs were rightly praised for the quality of their play at Livingston; a venue where they had struggled in the past.

It was a different story at Tannadice.

United won the midfield battle in the first half and forced Jack Ross into a tactical shake-up before the hour mark, introducing Scott Allan and moving to a back-three.

Only then did Hibs look more of a threat, as United’s defence sought to keep a lid on the strikers and snuff out Allan’s creativity.

The last ten minutes or so was backs-to-the-walls stuff for Hibs as United chased the equaliser they probably deserved, but credit to the Easter Road defence for standing firm.

It’s a tired trope, but there's every chance Hibs wouldn’t have won such a fixture last season or at least, not in such a fashion. It’s still early days, but Hibs are looking much stronger at the back and still haven’t lost a goal from open play in three matches.

Whisper it, but Jack Ross may be well on his way to finally eliminating the defensive softness that has plagued Hibs for more seasons than fans would care to remember.