Kevin Nisbet and Chris Cadden were on hand to give Shaun Maloney his 2nd win since taking charge at Easter Road last Monday, beating Dundee United 3-1 with both teams serving up an enthralling finale but it was Hibs who earned the plaudits, and most importantly, the 3 points.
A section of the 500 United faithful tried their best to lift the atmosphere inside Tannadice but neither goalkeeper was tested in the opening period, even a Wright effort inside 2 minutes failing to test Siegrist. Chris Cadden tried to pick out Martin Boyle on 33 minutes before Neilson provided a last-minute interception.
Hibs took the lead 7 minutes before the interval, Josh Doig’s cross at the back post came in the direction of Cadden who pulled the trigger with Scott McMann blocking the effort before Boyle’s effort was turned in by Nisbet despite offside appeals from the hosts.
Dundee United’s best chance to pull level came on 72 minutes, Harkes finding Adrian Sporle who hit an angled drive towards goal forcing another good save from Macey, the former Arsenal goalkeeper doing his bit to keep a clean sheet for the Edinburgh side. Logan Chalmers then got into space before firing towards goal, finding the side-netting.
Cadden made it 2-0 for the visitors with 12 minutes left, Jake Doyle-Hayes played a through ball into Boyle, who disposed McMann before finding the winger who dispatched beyond Seigrist to sew up a fine win for Hibs, scoring his 1st goal for the Leith side in the process.
United pulled one back, Glass weaved past four Hibs players before firing a left-footed shot into the top corner in what proved to be a consolation in the end.
The game wasn’t dead then, however, as Hibs strived to kiss the game goodbye, Jamie Murphy cut in off the left, his pass came back to him off Neilson and he curled home Hibs’ third goal to round off a good afternoon, making it 3-1 Hibs in the process.
With Hibs producing the goods on Boxing Day at Tannadice, here are three things we learned from the game.
Strong Hibs performance
A game that didn’t promise much in the opening quarter-hour mark, the game sprung to light on the half-hour mark when Hibs began to go on the ascendancy and took the lead shortly afterwards thanks to Nisbet.
Cadden killed the game off in the dying stages of the match to seal a fine win for Hibs who have been rejuvenated in the last week with 2 impressive results. United tested Hibs in the latter stages of the match but Hibs weren’t finished there with Jamie Murphy adding the gloss to a fine Hibs victory.
Great week for Maloney
Two games, two wins is a fantastic return for Shaun Maloney who came into post at Easter Road last Monday, victories on Wednesday and today have been brilliant Christmas presents but no sitting back for some belated festive beers, he’ll be keen to keep the momentum going into 2022.
United scored but not the desired outcome
Dundee United pulled one back in injury time but it wasn’t to result in anything positive results-wise with Hibs getting the job wrapped up long before the strike by Glass. A good strike worthy of winning any match but some good game management from the visitors was enough to get the job done.
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