Nish: We Should've Gone Four A Big Win

Aug 24 2008 Ewan Smith At Caledonian Stadium

Premier League

INVERNESS CT 1

HIBS 1

COLIN NISH netted Hibs' first goal in Inverness then greedily admitted the Easter Road men should have gone on to grab four.

After 496 minutes without a counter at the Caledonian Stadium it was Nish who finally broke the hoodoo when he cancelled out Don Cowie's opener just after the break.

But the big hitman was gutted his side didn't go on to record their first win against Inverness in the Highlands.

Nish fluffed a first-half chance then headed off a post as Mixu Paatelainen's men went all out for a victory.

He said: "Someone told me before the game Hibs had never scored up here but that didn't put me off. In fact, I went into the game feeling I would score. I always seem to score here and I consider Inverness one of my lucky teams.

"As a striker you always have to be confident you will score and I never lose that feeling. But after I blasted one over the top I did begin to question whether or not it would happen for me.

"It did in the second half and I felt we were so good from then on we could have won convincingly.

"We created so many chances that on another day we would have won 4-1 or 5-1 but had to settle for a point."

Hibs couldn't have been relishing their long trip north and it was Inverness who started on top as they tried to get last week's home defeat by Hamilton out of their system.

They conjured up the first chance in just three minutes as debutant Adam Rooney - a recent capture from Premiership new boys Stoke - flicked the ball into the path of Ross Tokely.

Tokely tried to head home but an acrobatic save from Andy McNeil denied him.

Nine minutes later it was Rooney's turn to have a shot on goal as he latched on to a Richard Hastings cross to attempt to beat McNeil with a backheel flick.

Again McNeil was equal to the effort and Hibs raced forward to post a warning to the home side.

A superbly-weighted through ball from Steven Fletcher made space for John Rankin but the former Caley star curled the ball wide from 15 yards.

Rankin was made to rue that miss in 21 minutes as Inverness took the lead.

Ian Black's long hopeful ball was controlled by Cowie who placed his shot into the bottom corner of the net from 15 yards, with the aid of a deflection off Chris Hogg.

That seemed to give Caley the edge and they continued to outpass the Edinburgh side.

But Hibs always looked a threat going forward and Nish missed the first of a hat-trick of chances in 28 minutes when he found space inside the box only to blast over.

The second half was an entirely different story with Hibs finally breaking their duck with Nish's clinical counter. O'Brien's shot was blocked by the home defence and fell kindly into the path of Nish 15 yards out.

He showed great composure to pick his spot and Hibs were level.

Moments later the former Kilmarnock man again combined with O'Brien as he came within inches of a second.

He got on the end of an O'Brien cross to head goalwards but the base of the post denied him what would have been a crucial winner.

Hibs had further chances to net a winner late on - the best of which fell to Dean Shiels in the dying moments - but they couldn't find a way past Michael Fraser and had to settle for a point.

Boss Mixu Paatelainen said: "I felt this was a game we really should have won.

"We played well in the second half and created more than enough chances to win.

"We didn't take them but it's still satisfying that we are creating enough chances to win games comfortably.

"I'm sure the wins will come if we continue to play like that."

Shots on 5

Shots off 1

Fouls 1

Off side 8

Corners 8

Baceds 3

REFF WATCH

EDDIE SMITH was in the spotlight after that penalty award at Celtic Park on day one but no worries for the man in black yesterday. Rating: 7/10.

Shots on 3

Shots off 10

Fouls 7

Off side 5

Corners 2

Baceds 0