Hibs verdict: Doyle-Hayes engineers vital win but team must build on see-saw display

That both came from the right foot of Jake Doyle-Hayes was lighting-striking-twice territory. The quiet Irishman doubled his career tally inside half an hour against Ross County as the former St Mirren man stole the show to fire Hibs to a priceless first league win of 2022.

With football being a results business, a scrappy 1-0 win with the winner being scrambled home amid a post-corner stramash would have sufficed but a bit of a cushion and a promising second-half showing, coupled with two bits of magic from Doyle-Hayes put the gloss on the scoreline.

Shaun Maloney had stressed the importance of playing with the same mentality and desire as seen in the goalless Edinburgh derby with Hearts, and the 3-1 Scottish Cup fifth-round victory at Arbroath but the first half was sadly lacking in both.

Save for a few Chris Cadden runs down the right that ultimately came to nothing there was little to write home about from a Hibs point of view. Ross County striker Jordan White earned a booking for a rather desperate tumble in the box that referee Steven McLean viewed as simulation while the same player passed up the visitors’ best chance of the game when he delicately lobbed the ball into Matt Macey’s arms when he should have given the ‘keeper more to think about.

Hibs are making progress, but incrementally so at the moment. The pattern is of a listless first half followed up by a more fired-up second period. Whisper it, but losing a goal so early on against Arbroath probably eked out more of a performance across the whole game.

It was much the same against the Staggies but crucially, there was no setback from which Hibs had to recover. The hosts came fleeing out the traps at the start of the second period and took the lead quickly,