Levitt inspired Hibs breeze past Ross County

With a superb second half performance Hibs beat Ross County 2-0 at Easter Road.

Goals from Myziane Maolida and Dylan Levitt were enough for the home side to pick up all three points, sending them into the top six in the process.

After playing so well, and dominating the Edinburgh derby on Wednesday night, Hibs’ fans likely expected a strong first half performance, however, they started the match looking very much like an unchanged starting eleven who were playing their third game in seven days.

The home side were sloppy in possession on numerous occasions and lacked any real quality in the final third when they did break through the County lines.

Hibs’ best chance of the half fell to Wednesday night’s goal scorer, Emiliano Marcondes, after Myziane Maolida’s initial effort was well saved by George Wickens in the County goal.

The ball rebounded to Emiliano who only had to lift it over Wickens, but instead he tried to round the keeper, who recovered well to keep it out.

Other than that, there was not a lot else for Hibs fans to get excited about, and they let their team know how disappointed they were with what was on offer throughout the half.

Evidently, Hibs’ boss Nick Montgomery shared their frustrations, he made a half-time sub, with Dylan Levitt replacing Nathan Moriah-Welsh, and it almost made an immediate impact.

Marcondes had a smart finish well saved by Wickens again, and Dylan Vente probably should have buried a Martin Boyle cut back, instead he chose to dummy it, letting it run to a navy shirt rather than a green.

Hibs’ improved second half performance was then, rather fortunately, rewarded just shy of the hour mark.

Wickens fumbled an ambitious Vente cross right into the path of Maolida, who probably couldn’t believe his luck as he finished into an empty net for his fourth goal since signing for the club in January.

Hibs continued to dominate proceedings until the closing twenty minutes, when Ross County finally created a clear chance.

After some brilliant build up play from the visitors, Eamonn Brophy was kept out superbly at point-blank by David Marshall, the experienced keeper did well to stay alert as he hadn’t to do much before that.

That save looked like it was going to be crucial as Hibs failed to get their second in the closing stages, their really promising build-up play was just let down by a poor final pass.

Finally, with minutes left, Hibs got their reward with two substitutes combining, Levitt gathered the ball in midfield and played it wide to Elie Youan, he drove forward, returned it to the Welshman who calmly finished past Wickers, putting the game to bed.

A vastly improved second half from the Easter Road side and a long-awaited clean sheet saw them to victory.

Nick Montgomery said: “Well-deserved. I think it’s been a big week.  We set out at the start of the week with three games and I think we were unfortunate not to get nine points. Again, Wednesday night was disappointing, so to pick the boys up from that disappointment shows great character today.”

The icing on the cake for the Hibees was the result put them into the top six after Dundee drew with Kilmarnock, Montgomery said: I think at the end of the season we’ll be where we deserve to be and all we can do is concentrate on ourselves and concentrate on the next game…right now, our full focus is on the Cup game next Sunday. Obviously, happy to be back in the top six, but definitely won’t be complacent.

The side now have a well-earned week’s break before that Scottish Cup quarter-final against Rangers next Sunday, as the sides meet in the competition for the first time since that fateful day in 2016.

Callum Napier

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Masters Student currently studying Sports Journalism at Edinburgh Napier University.

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