Sproule's gold buys Mowbray victory

Brebner 14

THE buzz of anticipation was unmistakeable. Tony Mowbray had told two of his substitutes to get stripped just after the hour mark at Easter Road yesterday, and there was almost an inevitability that one of them would take this match out of the grip of a dogged Dundee United.

One was singled out for a special ovation from the crowd, and would take only eight minutes to grab the winner with a typically devastating burst of pace followed by a clinical finish. The other one was Derek Riordan.

In the midst of the fortnight that Ivan Sproule is having, it is little wonder that Riordan's return after his aborted move to Cardiff should have been robbed of the limelight. The 24-year-old's fourth goal of the season - finding the empty net after an outrageous dummy left Derek Stillie on his backside - sealed a troublesome three points to keep Hibs in third place in the SPL table yesterday, completing a 14-day period which has seen him score a hat-trick at Ibrox and make his debut for Northern Ireland in the 1-0 win over Sven Goran Eriksson's side.

The player, who made a low-key arrival from part-time football at Institute last January, will surely complete the set with his first Uefa Cup appearance on Thursday, as Dnipro alight at Easter Road.

"It has turned into a bit of a dream really, " said Sproule afterwards. "The way the last couple of weeks have gone it was inevitable that it was going to fly in. Everything seems to be running for me, but that is all down to the hard work that Mark and Tony have put in for me.

"My father passed away and my brother as well, and that was always the dream for one of us to play for your country.

And what a way to get your first cap, be involved against England and actually beat them at Windsor Park. Hopefully, maybe halfway through the season, or somewhere down the season, you will see me starting games."

Exactly when Mowbray will allow his livewire winger to start a game is another matter.

The counter-attacking 4-2-3-1 shape he modelled yesterday seems perfect to unleash him at opponents, even if Mowbray feared playing such a formation at home against Dundee United could leave himself wide open.

"I sat and watched Sven on the BBC getting grilled about formations, " he said. "I said to them before kick-off that playing a lone striker at home against Dundee United, if we don't win, I could be sitting on a sofa like Sven next week."

Dundee United were an appropriate warm-up act for Hibs' Uefa Cup meeting - having already been eliminated from the competition by MyPa-47 - and the hosts came into the game on the back of three wins, without conceding a solitary goal after their humbling at Tynecastle. The goals record was not to last much longer, however, due to a Hibee who flew the nest.

With just 14 minutes on the clock, Stuart Duff funnelled the ball into the path of David Fernandez, and his quick turn allowed him to roll in a cut-back which bisected the penalty area. Grant Brebner timed his run perfectly and diverted it into Zbigniew Malkowski's bottom corner.

The Spaniard's mane seems more unkempt with each passing week, but he certainly presented Hibs with some hairy moments yesterday.

Shortly after the goal, Malkowski did well to parry away a Lee Miller shot after Fernandez had rolled him in, and before half-time the former Celtic misfit even had the ball in the net, forcing in off a post after the Polish goalkeeper badly spilled Brebner's innocuous effort from the edge of the box. On that occasion a linesman's flag intervened, while in the second half, he pounced on another unconvincing piece of work from Malkowski to send in a lob which struck the top of the bar.

For all this, the goal had materialised against the run of play. Kenny Clark had turned down an early penalty appeal, when Mark Kerr had brought down Michael Stewart from a crossfield Gary O'Connor pass, an award that Mowbray called "stonewall".

As so often happens, the next time Stewart tumbled in the area, this time more innocuously after contact from Duff, Clark pointed to the spot. O'Connor's penalty was high and to the right of Stillie.

"Our player says he didn't really touch him, and that he went down easily, " said United manager Gordon Chisholm later. "There was one a bit earlier which maybe favoured us a bit, but football shouldn't work that way. It is either a penalty or not. If you don't get one that doesn't mean you should get one that isn't."

The second half began with O'Connor turning sharply and testing Stillie from an angle, and it was the Scotland striker who uncorked Sproule's remarkable pace with a pass through the inside right channel, and he did the rest.

FAST FOOTBALL

Fair result: Just about.

Despite only having one out-and-out striker, Hibs were on the front foot throughout, and mounted more pressure on the United goal. It might all have been different had the Tannadice side held on to their lead for longer.

Entertainment value: Above average. The greasy surface at Easter Road was perfect for passing football, and both sides engagingly tried to get the ball down in an open contest. It was two teams trying to play the right way.

Talking point: Stuart Duff protested vehemently after Kenny Clark penalised him for a softish barge on Michael Stewart, having earlier waved away more straightforward appeals from the same player after a Mark Kerr lunge.

Man of the match: David Fernandez.

Plenty of decent shifts from those in a Hibs shirt, including Stewart, but none were any better than the former Celtic misfit.

Set up the United goal, had one goal disallowed for offside, hit the bar and created another cast-iron chance for Lee Miller.

Tony Mowbray: "Dundee United are a team that will cause a lot of problems this year, they have a lot of good footballers. I felt like we controlled vast amounts of it."

Gordon Chisholm: "I'm just disappointed in the fact that we must have kept our lead for only about four or five minutes. I thought there were long spells of the game where we played good stuff."

Malkowski Whittaker Hogg Smith Murphy Thomson Beuzelin Sc Brown Stewart Shiels O'Connor

Subs: Sproule for Shiels 62, Riordan for Sc Brown 62, Glass for Thomson 80.

Not used: Sn Brown, Konte, Morrow, Rudge.

Booked: Murphy 58.

Stillie Wilson Kenneth Ritchie Archibald Duff Kerr Brebner Canero Miller Fernandez

Subs: McIntyre for Canero 76, Robson for Duff 82.

Not used: Samson, McCracken, Dodds, Robertson, Cameron.

Booked: Duff 34, Kerr 59, Wilson 76, Ritchie 85, Archibald 88.

Referee: K Clark.

Attendance: 12,026.