DOING more with less of the ball, this was a notable display of counter-attacking football from Hibernian, marred only by an element of profligacy in front of goal and a couple lapses in concentration at the back. On another day, the guile of Steven Fletcher, the height of Colin Nish and the pace of Alan O'Brien in attack could have been rewarded with as many as five or six goals.
After a miserable pre-season in which they lost seven out of eight matches, Hibs shrugged off the disappointment of an opening day loss at Rugby Park last weekend by scoring the opening goal in this game with only 24 seconds on the clock.
Ther
e are times when Nish cuts a gangly figure up front, but the smooth manner in which he collected Dean Shiels' pass in the box, made room for himself and eluded Robert Olejnik with a low shot at the Falkirk goalkeeper's near post which was a model of graceful co-ordination.
Having missed a much easier opening against Kilmarnock a week earlier, Nish was so determined to make amends for the oversight that he put in extra training sessions to sharpen his finishing. The hard work paid off when the big forward took advantage of slack defending from Falkirk when Paul Hanlon's cross from the left flank drifted past everyone except Nish, who dropped to his knees at the back post to nod the ball into the corner of the net.
Although Falkirk steadied the ship when the imposing striker, Michael Higdon, got on the end of Gerard Aafjes chipped pass to glance a powerful header past Andrew McNeil, Hibs were in such control of the game that only an embarrassing miss for midfielder John Rankin after O'Brien created the opening prevented the home side from establishing a greater advantage at half-time.
Not that Rankin was alone in failing to make the most of the number of chances manufactured by Hibs' brisk approach. For all his strength and intelligence in setting up openings for others, Fletcher should have converted at least one of the four excellent opportunities which came his way during a thoroughly entertaining match. And only O'Brien can explain why he fired a timely pass from Fletcher into the side-netting when the option of a shot across goal seemed certain to elude Olejnik.
The good news for Hibs, though, was that after playing a studied brand of football under the previous managements of both John Collins and Tony Mowbray, Mixu Paatelainen's preference for the more direct approach worked well against Falkirk.
By the time Shiels found Nish at the back post at the start of the second half and Hanlon, 18, scored his first goal for the club he has always supported with a header from two yards, Hibs should have been coasting. It was a special moment for the teenage left-back since his father, Derek, was cheering at the front of the Famous Five stand.
"To score my first goal, particularly when it turned out to be the winner, was something I've dreamed about," he said. "As a Hibs' fan, it was all the more special. I was just glad my goal got us the three points. I'd told my Dad that if I scored I would kiss the badge and that's what I did. Although we had such a disappointing pre-season, we always felt this (victory] would come. We just needed a break, or a goal, to settle us down."
While Hibs sought to minimise the influence of Russell Latapy by asking Joe Keenan to shadow the former Hibs' man, there was a lack of stature about the Easter Road side in midfield which was not corrected until Ian Murray came on for the last quarter of the game.
In that spell, Falkirk played with heart and skill, their best players, Jackie McNamara and Higdon, combining for the big striker's second goal.
Mark Stewart, a substitute, might even have nicked a point for the visitors a minute from the end had his shot found the inside of the post rather than the outside. While he would have gladly pilfered the point, John Hughes, the Falkirk manager, wasn't about to re- assess what had gone before through rose-tinted glasses since his side were often alarmingly slack in defence.
"There's a wee bit of pride in me because we played in an enjoyable match, had a go and had a good response in the second half," he said.
"But we certainly didn't do enough. If we'd got something, it would have been unjust. The way we defended, Hibs could have scored more goals."
The full article contains 790 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
