Dundee United took what many believe to be their rightful place in the SPL’s top six thanks to a fabulous festive fightback at Tannadice on Saturday.
A Christmas Eve cracker saw the Tangerines storm back from the loss of a first-half goal to sweep Hibs aside in the second period on Saturday.
Former Dundee striker Leigh Griffiths had silenced the vast majority of the healthy holiday crowd of 8,168 by giving the Edinburgh men the lead with a well-worked goal on 23 minutes.
United huffed and puffed until half time but they completely outplayed the Hibees thereafter.
The strike that sparked the transformation was described by manager Peter Houston as ”absolutely tremendous” and it was hard to disagree.
Johnny Russell, who joined other young stars Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong in shining bright on the day, was the scorer on 59 minutes.
Mackay-Steven started the move off then picked out Armstrong, who played the ball on to Russell. The Scotland under-21 man showed coolness and composure as he danced through the Hibs defence before stepping around keeper Graham Stack and stroking the ball into the net.
Jon Daly edged the home side ahead on 76 minutes, rising highest to head home yet another excellent cross from Paul Dixon, the club’s player of the season so far.
Daly then beat the offside trap with just a couple of minutes to go daydreaming Hibs defender Paul O’Hanlon played him on then ran forward before picking his spot to finish off a great day’s work for United.
Houston praised Daly’s contribution to the victory while also highlighting the quality of the finish from Russell.
The manager said: ”A lot of people criticise Jon Daly for the chances he misses but he is always in there and he is not frightened to make mistakes. If you go in there you will always get another chance and he scored two great goals.”
He added: ”That is seven out of nine points now, so that is us on a wee run.”
Houston revealed he always had belief that his players would rally, despite falling behind.
He said: ”We always fancy our chances going down the hill (towards the Eddie Thompson Stand). Hibs, in the condition they are in, if you get a goal against them they might be on the back foot and that proved to be the case.”
He added: ”I thought Johnny Russell’s goal was absolutely tremendous. He showed great composure for a young boy to go round the keeper and score.
”Once we got that first goal I was confident we could go on and win the match.”
Hibs boss Pat Fenlon thought he was watching a rerun of the first game he took in after being appointed Easter Road gaffer. He looked on from the McDiarmid Park terraces a month ago as the Hibees edged ahead but were eventually overpowered by St Johnstone, the Perth men winning by the same scoreline as United.
Fenlon said: ”It is becoming a regular thing, taking the lead in a game then going on to lose it. Once we lost the first goal we dropped deeper and deeper.
”I thought we did well in the first half but didn’t defend properly after that.”