Hibs’ midfielder Stevie Mallan had no hesitation in taking the responsibility for the last minute penalty which secured Hibs’ best start to a top-flight season for more than 20-years.
New signing Kevin Nisbet is the designated penalty taker this season but he missed the game due to injury and Scott Allan who took them last season had already been substituted when John Beaton pointed to the spot.
Renowned for his dead ball ability, the midfielder scored his last attempted for the club and was confident that he wouldn’t miss this time before stepping up and firing an unstoppable power driver past Elliot Parish.
After the final whistle Mallan told Hibernian TV: “At the start of the season we said Kev Nisbet was going to be the penalty taker and he wasn’t there so as soon as I heard that whistle I just ran for the ball. Before Kev, I scored the last one at St Mirren so I had confidence that I was going to hit it. As soon as I grabbed that ball there was nobody taking it off me.”
Mallan suffered a long term injury in the Boxing Day derby and admitted that it had been a long road back to the first team’ He continued: “After a long road from my injury, to be able to get the winner in my first game of the season is a great feeling. It’s one of those, when you’re sitting in the gym every day, you want the accolade and the three points first and foremost, but it’s a great feeling personally because it’s been a long road and I’m finally back in.
“The manager wanted to have a pre-season with us to bed in the way he wanted to play. After the lockdown we had a longer pre-season than usual and we worked through formations and the way we wanted to play and I think that helped massively for the squad, because we are going on the park knowing exactly what to do and what not to do as well.”
Mallan was quick to praise his team mates and particularly the defence who kept their third clean sheet in a row. He added: “First and foremost he wanted more clean sheets because if you make yourself hard to beat then you won’t lose. That’s exactly what we have been doing and getting the forward boys a bit more freedom to try and win us the games, and that’s exactly what they have been doing. We worked out where we wanted to be after six games and we are on track.
“The manager is trying to breed a winning mentality throughout the squad and that’s exactly what we are doing. “We are showing that on the pitch with the clean sheets and wins. We are doing well and we have to take that into Aberdeen next week.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
