Hibs’ striker Christian Doidge was determined to make an impact after coming off the bench against Motherwell on Saturday.
Regular first choice Doidge has had to be content to take his place amongst the substitutes in recent weeks after missing one game due to a suspension but he knows that football is a squad game and is not solely about the starting XI.
Fellow striker Kevin Nisbet led the line on his own for the first hour against Motherwell before Doidge then Jamie Gullan joined him as Hibs dominated the second-half and both made their presence felt in the latter stages.
With Hibs leading 1-0 thanks to a superbly taken goal from Martin Boyle, Doidge secured the three points in the 88th minute with a calmly taken side foot from the edge of the area which nestled in the bottom corner of Jordan Archer’s net.
Another sub, Stephen McGinn then made history by becoming the third brother to score for the club, following in the footsteps of his siblings John and Paul and the three points returned to Leith.
After the final whistle Doidge told Hibs TV: “The boys off the bench in the last couple of weeks have been really good. ‘Hammer’ (Jamie Gullan) got his goal the other day coming on so I knew that if I’m not involved in the starting XI I have got to make sure that if I come on I had to make an impact and it was nice to do that. It was nice to get the goal.
“It was another tough test and it took all the boys to put in a good performance and get the points.”
Head Coach Jack Ross was full of praise for the Welshman.
He added: t’s always incredibly difficult for me not to pick Christian in my team because he has been brilliant for me. His contribution to the team is not always obvious in terms of when he is not scoring people would then see his unselfish work .
“His training was brilliant this week but I would never have any question about his attitude. He was right at it when he came on. He looked sharp and fit and I was delighted that he got his reward with his goal. It’s been a little bit frustrating in front of goal recently so I’m really pleased for him.”
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.
