Motherwell v Hibs: Three things we learned from the match at Fir Park

1 With a punishing schedule of midweek matches and a squad which he admits is looking a little thin through injuries and the departures of Oli Shaw, Chris Maxwell and Josh Vela, Hibs boss Jack Ross is being forced to rotate his players from game-to-game. It’s meant players without many minutes of game time recently being pressed into action. On this occasion Tom James was one of four changes made from the midweek win over Hamilton for the trip to Fir Park with David Gray ruled out with a bug. It was the right back’s first star under the new head coach and his first since the Betfred Cup semi-final against Celtic at the beginning of November. Unsurprisingly, he looked a little rusty early on against the pace of James Scott.

2 Stephane Omeonga brings a verve and energy to Hibs’ midfield, but the little Belgian needs to curb his natural enthusiasm a bit at times. A succession of early niggly fouls earned the on-loan Genoa player a booking barely halfway through the first half and he was treading a fine line thereafter. A late challenge on Motherwell’s Liam Donnelly shortly afterwards prompted howls for a red card from the home fans although the Fir Park player exacted his own reputation with a foul on Omeonga which brought him his own yellow card.

3 Despite having a quiet match against Hamilton, most of the Hibs fans who made the trip to Lanarkshire would have been surprised to see playmaker Scott Allan on the bench. But he replaced Flo Kamberi for the final 26 minutes and immediately began to make his mark on proceedings, two well weighted and perfectly timed passes releasing Daryl Horgan and then Martin Boyle, the centre of much transfer speculation this week, but unfortunately for the Easter Road club neither wide man was able to make the most the openings he’d created.