'Ye cannae change the laws of physics' - Hibs win restores momentum

Moving on up - Hibs players celebrate a hard-fought win.

The boys at NASA have a term for almost every observable phenomenon in the known universe. The geniuses in Houston and Cape Kennedy wouldn’t have to ponder overly long, then, to find a suitable phrase to describe Hibernian’s restoration of upward motion.

Conservation of momentum? As fundamental laws of physics go, it seems fitting enough.

Because, after being knocked sideways by their midweek defeat at Celtic Park, Nick Montgomery’s men returned to their original course at Livingston. A fourth win in five games is evidence enough to support the theory that, under Monty, Hibs will not be easily diverted.

In securing a victory that saw them leapfrog their city rivals in the Scottish Premiership table, Hibs certainly took one giant leap for fankind. But what else did we learn from a gruelling 1-0 win in gruesome conditions?

Every day and in every way, Jair Tavares is getting better and better …

Seriously. The Portuguese attacker has gone from being a great story – an emotional tale to warm the heart – to a crucial element of this Hibs team. If he continues to improve at the current rate, he’ll have Player of the Year honours sewn up by February.

Only presents, not prizes, get handed out in December

As nice as it feels to move ahead Hearts in the table, few at Hibs are getting carried away, with Montgomery insisting: “It’s that old adage, we don’t really concentrate on anybody else, we concentrate on ourselves.

“We know if we win games of football, that is going to lift us up the table. We don’t really look too far ahead; it’s about taking each game as it comes and we’ll move on from this.” Bah, humbug!

Midfield remains key to Monty masterplan

In a first half where Joe Newell and Dylan Levitt might have needed jet packs to get close to the ball, Hibs were disjointed and unable to put together passing sequences. When the midfield partnership started to find space as the game got more stretched, Montgomery’s men looked more like their old selves.

Livi boss David Martindale identified the “box midfield” – Newell and Levitt as a pair of sitters, with both wingers tucking in ahead of them – as a key component of how Hibs want to play. He had a plan to combat it. And it almost worked. Until it didn’t.

Josh Campbell can do anything

A central midfielder who has adapted to new roles on the right of midfield and as a stand-in centre forward, Campbell came on at right back with just over 20 minutes of the game to go. With 16-year-old Rory Whittaker absolutely burst, Montgomery looked along his bench – which included full-time defenders Rocky Bushiri and Riley Harbottle – and decided to trust his Mr Versatile. Can’t wait to see him in goals at McDiarmid Park …

VAR continues to entertain in many different ways

Clear and obvious errors should be, erm, clear and obvious enough to be spotted without the need for a full three-minute video review. It’s killing the game. And causing everyone involved to lose faith in a system that promised so much.

Referee Grant Irvine is called over for a pointless VAR check deep into injury time.

Martindale is justified in wondering aloud why ref Grant Irvine wasn’t given a chance to review the penalty appeal by Kurtis Guthrie. It doesn’t sit right that the final decision on that reasonable looking claim lay with an official sitting in a studio along the M8.

And as for the farce surrounding the late penalty shout for handball? Offside is supposed to be a cut-and-dried, black-and-white, yes-or-no decision by VAR. Surely the officials HAD to check that before even considering what happened next.

Onwards, ever onwards

The scenes of celebration and jubilation at full-time revealed just how much this win meant to Hibs. In an ultra-competitive league where the bottom side aren’t that much worse than the best of the rest, putting together any kind of run – even one interrupted by the odd loss to one of Scottish football’s Big Two – can result in massive strides towards those European places.

“We talk about momentum all the time,” said Montgomery. “What is important we showed character off the back of the Celtic result. We needed to focus on getting back to winning ways.”