IT will barely merit more than a 30-second clip on the end-of-season DVD should Hibernian go on to win the Championship this season but this narrow victory at a freezing Dumbarton on Saturday is the sort of result that title successes tend to be built on. Dundee United (twice) and Falkirk have both foundered at The Rock this season and, with Dumbarton in a rich vein of form as they try to navigate safe passage away from the relegation zone, this was never going to be an easy mission for Neil Lennon and his players.
A second 1-0 win of the campaign at the Cheaper Insurance Direct stadium will not live long in the memory for those who were there but for Hibs it could be hugely significant. With United struggling to a draw at home to Queen of the South, the team from Leith now stands proudly over a six-point lead.
That Dumbarton dominated long swathes of the second half may irk Lennon when he sits down to analyse his team’s performance but ultimately there will be satisfaction at a job well done. A third successive victory featured a second clean sheet in a row, a timely statistic for goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw to cling to with first-choice Ofir Marciano free from injury and looking to push him out of the team.
Laidlaw, a summer arrival from Raith Rovers, was diplomatic about that possibility, insisting there is nothing but unity among the Hibs ranks.
“This run in the team has been really good for me,” he said. “I got a couple of games in Europe at the start of the season and Ofir got injured which gave me another chance in goal. We all get on really well and we are really pally outside the club as well. We have a good relationship and have a lot of respect for each other too. We know how hard a position it is so we all enjoy working with each other."
The significance of the victory was not lost on Laidlaw either, especially with United dropping points. Suddenly there is daylight between the top two once more.
"There's still a long way to go, but it's massive to come here and get the points,” he added. “Sometimes it isn't about the performance, it's just about getting the points and that was the case today. We also got a clean sheet which was good. The gaffer said to us that sometimes you aren't going to go out and play pretty football, you need to come to these places and just grind out a result. So to come in and hear that United had dropped points again gives us momentum."
Dumbarton, in contrast, remain embroiled in the battle to avoid the relegation play-off spot although manager Stevie Aitken was almost bursting with pride at the way his team played in the second half, even if they couldn’t chisel out what would have been a merited equaliser.
They were led by an eye-catching performance form Lewis Vaughan, the twinkle-toed forward seemingly deemed temporarily surplus to requirements at Raith Rovers who have loaned him out for the rest of the season.
“This is a great club to play games at,” said Vaughan who was named man of the match on his full debut. “I did my cruciate last season and was out for a long time so I just need to get games under my belt. I just need to get my fitness and confidence up. It’s a great place to do it and I hope I can help shoot them up the table.
“You wouldn’t think it was a part-time club. The boys have been great since I’ve been in. They work hard in training on a Tuesday and Thursday night. You can see that fitness isn’t a problem against a full-time team. It must be one of the best part-time teams in Scotland. The manager has been brilliant since I’ve come in. He was a big part in me coming to Dumbarton.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here