Supersub Stevie Mallan was determined to ‘make an impact’ after coming off the bench against Alloa last night and he certainly did that, winning the Premier Sport man of the match despite only playing 40 minutes.
An own goal by Paul Hanlon gave Alloa the lead against the run of play and with nerves showing Head Coach Jack Ross replaced Melker Hallberg and Drey Wright with Kyle Magennis and Mallan.
The move paid off and 10-minutes later Hibs equalised after Hanlon got his head to a Mallan corner and the ball fell to Christian Doidge. The Welshman’s first effort was blocked but he was on hand to fire the rebound high into the net from close range.
Six minutes later, with extra time looming, Lewis Stevenson beat his marker and slid the ball to Mallan who curled a cross to the back post which Doidge headed onto the head of Nicky Jamieson and the ball flew into the net.
After the final whistle Mallan told Premier Sport: “We knew it was going to be a tough game. The times I have been here before, it’s always been tough. Granty (Peter Grant) put’s his teams out really good. They were compact and they did well and they got their goal on the break by the way they set up and their game plan worked in the first-half.
“I think the second-half we upped the tempo a little bit and brought a few boys off the bench to give that wee spark and thankfully it worked.
“The message (from Jack Ross) was just to keep the tempo high and the switch of play was the one that would get them out and me and Doidgie (Christian Doidge) would have a chance. He’s had a few chances tonight and I knew that he would take one of them.
“It was just to freshen up the game and hopefully take my chance and it worked.
“If you look at Doidgie’s past goals they’ve been in and around the six-yard box and we have good players and good delivery in the team such as Melker (Hallberg) Joe Newell and Boylie (Martin Boyle) as well so I think Doidgie knows that with the deliveries he will always have a chance and you saw that today. He took his chance well.
“When you come off the bench you want to make an impact and thankfully I did that today. That’s exactly what the manager said.
“I’ve been training well and have taken that training into the game and also to give that wee spark and thankfully it worked today.
“We outlined at the start of the season we wanted to get to a final and we’ve done that in the past and it just shows how well the team is doing this season in the league and in the cups and we’ll take that into the next game and hopefully the final.”
The semi-final draw takes place after the St Mirren v Rangers tie tonight.
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.
