When Ante Šuto headed home a dramatic last-minute winner against Dundee United last month he joined an elite band of Hibs players to have scored on their debut for the club.
The Croatian, a deadline-day arrival from Slaven Belupo, had the home fans in raptures when, with the game evenly balanced at 2-2 he leapt highest in the box to excellently divert Nicky Cadden’s free-kick delivery into the top corner.
The home fans erupted as Šuto celebrated in style.
Speaking to Hibs TV after the match, the forward revealed his delight at making an instant impact on his first outing in green and white.
“I feel amazing. I couldn’t dream of a better start. First game, first win in front of the home fans, it’s great.
“And it’s my debut, so it’s even more amazing. I don’t know what I was thinking. But you saw my celebration, you saw what it means to me. It’s a dream start.”
The forward is a product of Hajduk Split’s youth academy, also spending time with NK Croatia Zmijavci before joining Slaven Belupo.
He boasts 23 goals and 19 assists across 136 career appearances in the top tiers of Croatian football.
Suto is also eligible to play for Australia and national team coach Tony Popovic may be keeping a close eye on his progress.
Other players to have made a scoring debut for Hibs include three of the Famous Five.
Arguably Hibs finest ever player Gordon Smith actually scored three on his first start on 28 April 1941, aged 16. And if that was not impressive enough, the hat-trick came in a 5-3 victory over Hearts at Tynecastle in the Scottish Southern League.
Smith was due to have signed for Hearts but was only offered a trial while Hibs gave him a contract, and that swung the deal.
Five years later Smith was joined by the newly demobbed Eddie Turnbull and ‘Ned’ went straight from junior football to the first team, scoring in a 2-1 away win over Third Lanark on 26 October 1946.
Then Willie Ormond, a £1,500 signing from Stenhousemuir did likewise on his debut on 7th December 1946 in a 3-1 away win over Queen of the South.
It took the prolific Lawrie Reilly five games before he scored the first of his 238 goals for the club in a 6-1 win over Queen of the South on 24 November 1945.
Bobby Johnstone scored on his third start, a 4-2 away defeat to Partick Thistle in the League Cup on 17 September 1949.
Hibs most prolific striker, the great Joe Baker opened his account in his second game, scoring a double in a 2-0 win over Queen’s Park.
Another Hibs legend did manage to score on his debut though. Pat Stanton, who this season had the East Stand renamed in his honour, scored in a 4-3 defeat to Motherwell at Fir Park on 5 October 1963.
Pat would go on to play 617 games for Hibs, scoring 78 times.
Pat’s teammate in the ‘Tornadoes’ Arthur Duncan also found the net on his debut on 17 January 1970 but his first start also ended ina 2-1 home defeat to Celtic.
The great George Best did likewise on his debut on 24 November 1979.
A crowd of over 13,600 packed into Love Street witness his arrival but despite considerable backing from the terraces, Hibs lost 2-1.
Others include Joe McBride who joined Hibs from Celtic, replacing Colin Stein who became Scotland’s first £100,000 transfer when he joined Rangers.
On 9 November 1968 McBride scored in a 6-1 defeat to the Ibrox club in Glasgow as Stein scored three times. In his second game against Lokomotive Leipzig he scored a hat-trick and followed this up by scoring four against Morton.
More recently one of the most remarkable debut goals came in a 2-1 home victory over Livingston.
Goalkeeper Mark Oxley scored the winner on his first start in the Championship after agreeing a six-month loan deal to play at Easter Road when his goal kick sailed over his opposite number after a misjudgement in the flight of the ball.
Other debut scorers include Dirk Lehmann scored twice on his debut for Hibs in a 2–2 draw with Motherwell on 31 July 1999.
Neil Orr who scored in a 3-1 home win over Queen of the South 25th August 1987
Steve Archibald who scored in a 4-0 home win over Stranraer 17 August 1988.
Stuart Beedie who scored in the infamous 2-1 win over Rangers on 9 August 1986 that saw Graeme Souness shown a red card.
And of course earlier this season, Šuto’s teammate Jamie McGrath wasted no time in making his mark – scoring on his competitive debut in the UEFA Europa League qualifier against Midtjylland.
Debut goals however are not a guarantee of a successful Hibs career.
On 6 August 2007 Brian Kerr scored within two minutes at Tynecastle when he headed home from six yards after Christos Karipidis failed to cut out an enticing cross from Steven Fletcher. Hibs held on for the victory but that proved to be his only goal and he left the club after only 31 games.
Likewise on 31 January 2018 Florian Kamberi who had officially signed on loan from Grasshoppers Zurich earlier in the day marked his debut with a powerful shot that flew in off the underside of the crossbar against Motherwell in a 2-1 home win.
His Hibs career ended with a bust up with Neil Lennon which subsequently cost the manger his job.
Note: Several other players have scored on their debut. The above list contains the most memorable.
Credit: Ian Jacobs
