Hibernian head coach Jack Ross admits he was thrilled to see Christian Doidge end his 15-game goal drought in Saturday’s 1-1 Premiership draw at Livingston.
The Welshman earned a point for the visitors by scoring for the first time since December 15.
Doidge took his tally for the campaign to eight and, although pleased that the 28-year-old got himself back among the goals, Ross insists the forward’s all-round contribution to the team is invaluable.
He said: “I’m delighted for him, I was actually chatting to him on Friday in the build up to the game about some things and that was one of the things we spoke about.
“It genuinely does not bother me that he’s been on this run without scoring because his play has been really good and he helps the team so much and I honestly don’t think about it that much.
“But I’m pleased for him because he deserves it and it was an important goal for us as well.
“We weren’t playing brilliantly at that stage and for him to score so quickly after conceding a poor goal, I’m pleased for him personally.
“I felt leading up to this game that individual players were looking at their best and Christian is one of them.
“He looked really sharp in training, bright and lively.”
Livingston went ahead after 28 minutes through Craig Sibbald after the midfielder pounced on a poor attempted header back by Hibs defender Ryan Porteous to slot past goalkeeper Ofir Marciano from close range.
However, Doidge levelled four minutes before the break, firing past Robby McCrorie from 12 yards after Josh Doig dispossessed Lions defender Nicky Devlin.
Hibs dominated much of the second half but struggled to break down resolute defending from the hosts.
Livingston manager David Martindale, whose team are now five points adrift of fourth place Aberdeen, admits he could not be too disappointed by the final result.
He said: “I thought we were far better in the first half and with the chances we created we’ve got to do a wee bit better with them.
“We gave a really sloppy goal away, we should’ve cleared our lines.
“So worst case we should’ve been going in 1-0 up and that’s enough to win the game.
“Jack will say the same thing because the goal Hibs conceded probably was the same.
“But we created enough chances in the first half to more than go in at 1-0.
“Second half was probably more Hibs. There wasn’t a lot in the second half, to be honest.
“On reflection we take the draw but we’re a wee bit disappointed.”
