Jamie McGrath scored in the final minute at Dundee United to give them a win, and help their chances of staying in the top division. Steven Fletcher was the star, scoring an early header and winning a penalty kick after Mykola Kuharevich tied it up for Hibs.
Dundee United have not been beaten in the last four matches against Hibs, who recently lost their fourth game in a row, which means that they are now in sixth place and close to missing out on their goal of finishing third.
Hibs have some work cut out for them if they want to stay above Livingston, who are currently just one point behind with two more games left before this round is over.
Jim Goodwin, the manager of United, said that his team had to start off strong and they delivered. Fletcher flew in from the air and powerfully scored a goal from Aziz Behich’s pass.
Hibs was very close to scoring first, but Kevin Nisbet made a huge mistake and kicked the ball against the goalie Mark Birighitti’s legs, instead of scoring an easy goal – all he had to do was poke it in!
Even though they were winning, United were a bit nervous while handling the ball and often passed it away without purpose. The Hibs team couldn’t do anything with all the balls they got, so Birighitti didn’t have much to worry about until before the interval.
Harry McKirdy had done great to set up Nisbet’s goal-chance but started making mistakes as he stayed on the right, and Elie Youan wasn’t that helpful either on the left since the host was determined to keep their lead.
Fletcher was about to score his second goal in the beginning of the second half, but he ended up hitting it over due to a great pass from Behich. Ilmari Niskanen received another great pass from Behich and had a chance to score, but he shot too high. In defense, Loick Ayina stopped Chris Cadden’s attempted delivery with an impressive sliding block which prevented Nisbet reaching it.
But the visitors equalised unexpectedly in the 70th minute, when Charlie Mulgrew failed to reach a cross from Marijan Cabraja and this allowed Kukharevych to control the ball on his chest before shooting a powerful shot into the net.
Hibs had a chance to win it when Nisbet hit an awesome free-kick at the crossbar, but unfortunately Kukharevych couldn’t direct his header towards goal as intended.
Youan was close to scoring after Nisbet helped him set up the goal, but it was the home team’s fans who were cheering for Fletcher when he touched Will Fish and got a penalty. At the end of extra time, Fish had another chance to score, but took too long which caused him to miss and hit the net on the side instead.
Fletcher Powers His Team to Victory!
Fletcher made really important plays near the beginning and end of his team’s important game.
Fletcher’s Injury Averted; Hibs unable to Utilize Nisbet in Low-Energy Performance
Everyone in the stands was worried when Fletcher limped off during added time, but luckily his injury didn’t seem very serious. It’s really important that they keep him fit if United wants to stay in the top flight. Even though he should have scored a second goal, his ability to bring other players up with him was very helpful since they were hesitant to go forward after scoring first.
Behich did a great job running up and down the left side of the field, and he almost had three passes that would’ve earned him a hat-trick!
Hibs’ main player Nisbet plays as a center forward, but he looked disappointed for most of the match because his teammates couldn’t really get into any kind of rhythm.
Before Lee Johnson became manager last summer, he said he wanted to have a full-of-energy approach, but unfortunately what Hibs showed was slow building which meant Nisbet didn’t get many chances.
McKirdy and Youan, the wide players, never did very well and Johnson’s team had a big lack of imagination in the center of the field.
Dundee United’s Resilience Leads to Important Early Goal Despite Tense Matchup with Hibs
Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin said even though the game wasn’t that great, his team had to stay strong and resilient. They did okay compared to other teams, scoring early on in the match which was very important due to all the tension in the air. The manager can’t be satisfied with just a draw for now until the end of their season and they need to try as hard as possible to win every match from now on.
Lee Johnson, the manager of Hibs team said that they should have made sure to get at least one point in this game. They were doing well but then a mistake was made with a tackle and the other team scored two goals quickly. The reason for all this happening was because their defense players were young and not experienced so they made mistakes that cost them the match.
Hibs and Hearts Clashing
Hibs will face their Edinburgh rivals Hearts on Saturday (12:30 BST) while United play against Motherwell at 15:00 that same day. Birighitti, Freeman, Ayina, Mulgrew, McMann, Sibbald, Fotheringham (substituted by Niskanen at 61 minutes), Harkes (substituted by Anakua at 88 minutes), McGrath, Behich and Fletcher (taken out by Edwards at 90+3 minutes) are all playing.
A Busy Lineup
Graham, Niskanen, Djoum, Edwards, Anaku, Anim Cudjoe, Newman, Thomson, Macleod, Marshall, Cadden and Fish were on the field. Egan-Riley was booked at 38 minutes while Jeggo was booked at 27 minutes. Stevenson was substituted at 75 minutes for Cabraja and Henderson at 75 minutes for McKirdy while Kukharevychat was substituted by Campbell at 58 minutes and Vieira Tavares by Youan at 86 minutes. Lastly, Nisbet was also part of the team.
Stats Show Soccer Team’s Successful Home and Away Possession and Shooting
The soccer team which consists of players Miller, Doyle-Hayes, Vieira Tavares, Hoppe, Stevenson, Devlin, Henderson, and Johnson with player number 99 Kukharevych had possession 35% at home and 65% away. They also made 10 shots at home and 14 shots away from home. The hits on target were 3 at home and 3 away while there were zero corners at home and 4 corners made away. Lastly, they committed ten fouls at home and fifteen fouls away. In conclusion, these are the stats related to the soccer team.
