Talking point: Ryan Porteous has the character to bounce back from Dons mistake

Ryan Porteous, right, and Darren McGregor at full-time

However, it’s easy to gloss over the fact the Hibs defender is still just 19-years-old. Mistakes are part of the learning curve for any young player trying to carve out a career in the game. Players need to be able to take the rough with the smooth. Porteous will probably have felt about three foot tall as he made his way back onto the team bus for the return trip to Edinburgh following a loose pass that gifted Gary Mackay-Steven the opportunity to score the only goal of the game five minutes before the interval at Pittodrie. It's all the more difficult to stomach when it's made in front of a live television audience.

To be fair to the Dons winger, it took a fine finish from 20 yards to beat Hibs goalkeeper Adam Bogdan, who otherwise had very little to do in a game that was starved of any real quality. Neil Lennon admitted in his post-match interview it was a pass the Scotland Under-21 international didn’t have to make. But no-one, not least with inside the Hibs dressing room, is going to point the finger at the teenager as the reason for defeat in the Granite City.

Porteous has already shown maturity way beyond his years, not just in the way he conducts himself on the park but his professionalism with the media and supporters alike. With big characters like Efe Ambrose, Paul Hanlon and Darren McGregor to call upon for advice, not to mention Lennon himself, Porteous has the character to bounce back and look forward to the visit of Dundee in a fortnight’s time.