Hibs’ hopes of a third-place finish took a massive boost this afternoon with a well-deserved 3-1 victory over fifth place Dundee United at a packed Easter Road.
Hibs head coach David Gray makes two changes from the side that suffered their first defeat of 2025 losing 1-0 to Aberdeen last weekend.
Striker Kieron Bowie and midfielder Josh Campbell dropped to the bench, with Junior Hoilett and Myko Kuharevich utaking their place.
Dundee United’s boss Jim Goodwin has made three alterations from his side’s heavy defeat by champions Celtic.
Midfielder David Babunski, striker Jort van der Sande and centre-back Declan Gallagher replaced Glenn Middleton, Ruari Paton and Allan Campbell.
There was a minute’s applause ahead of kick off in memory of former goalkeeper Jim Herriot.
Hibs opened the scoring in the third minute when Hoilett found Chris Cadden on the right wing. Cadden’s cross to Boyle in the middle was intercepted by United defender Gallagher but the ball got caught under his feet and the Hibs attacker took advantage knocking the ball into the net from close range.
Hibs should have doubled their lead moments later following a mistake in the visitor’s defence but keeper Jack Walton produced a superb double save to deny Kuharevich and Hoilett,
But the second goal arrived in the 19th minute following more hesitation in the United defence which allowed Kuharevich to pick up on the half way line before a wonderful solo run ended with a great strike which flew into the net off the post.
Hibs continued to dominate but were unable to extend their lead and the players left the field to a standing ovation.
Goodwin replaced Babunski and Van der Sande with Kristijan Trapanovski and Glenn Middleton.
The substitutions paid off within minutes when Will Ferry’s corner from the right was mishit by Khuarevich and Trapanovski made no mistake from close range.
United then started to dominate possession and had a penalty claim denied when Ross Docherty went down in the box under a challenge Nectarios Triantis but he was immediately booked for diving. A VAR check confirmed that the referee was correct.
Ryan Strain cleared off his own line to thwart Josh Campbell before Hibs wrapped up the three points in the dying minutes when substitute Bowie found Nicky Cadden and his perfect cross was headed home by Dwight Gayle.
After the final whistle Gray told BBC Scotland: “The result was the most important thing – the reaction from the players to the defeat last weekend.
“Everyone was looking to see how this Hibs team would bounce back and I got that today.
“Credit to Dundee United in the second half, they got a bit of a foothold in the game and we lose a really poor goal.
“The players showed me massive character to make sure we saw the game out. It was a massive team performance.”
Hibs: Smith, O’Hora, Levitt, Boyle, C Cadden, Iredale, Obita, Hoilett, Triantis, Rocky, Kuharevich.
Substitutes: Burski, Miller, Ekpiteta, Alasana, N Cadden, Bowie, Moriah-Welsh, Campbell, Gayle.
Dundee United: Walton, Strain, Sevelj, Babunski, Ferry, Sibbald, Adegboyega, Dalby, Van der Sande, Docherty, Gallagher.
Substitutes: Richards, Trapanovski, Fiorini, Moult, Middleton, Fotheringham, Paton, Campbell, Cleall-Harding.
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.
