Hibernian's fitness crucial as Whittaker hits late winner

Lisa Gray
Sunday 04 January 2004 20:00 EST
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Steven Whittaker scored his first senior goal for Hibernian with just six minutes remaining to clinch a 3-2 win over Partick Thistle, and later attributed Hibs' ability to score late goals to the extra energy of Bobby Williamson's young side.

Williamson has been forced to rely on youth throughout the campaign as financial restraints have limited the number of experienced players he has been able to bring to Easter Road.

But the youngsters have responded with the likes of Stephen Dobbie, Scott Brown and Derek Riordan already showing signs of promise.

Nineteen-year-old Whittaker became the latest player to stake a claim for a long run in the first team when he scored the decider on Saturday. He said: "Winning games late on is a good habit to have and because we have such a young team, it means that we're probably more energetic.

"Hopefully that means that we have higher fitness levels than other teams and that tells in the last five minutes or so. We've got some experienced players in the team and they help us along."

Hibs took the lead through Garry O'Connor and Dobbie but those goals were cancelled out by James Grady and Adrian Madaschi in the second half. The result leaves Thistle nine points adrift at the bottom of the Premier League table.

The Kilmarnock manager, Jim Jefferies, criticised his experienced players for failing to protect the debutant goalkeeper Craig Samson in the 3-1 defeat at Aberdeen on Saturday.

The 19-year-old was beaten by strikes from Alexander Diamond, Steve Tosh and Leigh Hinds as Kilmarnock slipped to their fourth successive Premier League defeat.

Colin Nish compounded their misery when he missed a penalty in the 36th minute which would have cancelled out Diamond's seventh-minute opener.

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