It's a good time to be a Hibs fan, that's for sure. A victory over Rangers, who have never been ahead of us this season. I am tempted to use Harold MacMillans famous line, 'You've never had it so good,' but then I guess there may be some people out there who watched the great championship winning Hibs team of the forties and fifties.

There was certainly plenty of debate over the weekend about just how good a team this is. I watched Hibs in the seventies and I reckon the level of entertainment that this current side provides is on a par with that much talked about era. For those of you younger than me, it must be a pleasant change after the pretty barren eighties and nineties. Of course, the seventies team judged on what they won were under achievers - the nearly men of Scottish football you might say. One League Cup and a lot of second places.

So the crucial question facing this current team is can they win something. These days, where the super rich clubs are almost untouchable, the chances of winning a championship are very slim. I don't think it is unrealistic however to start thinking about Cups and places in Europe. We have played everyone in the SPL now and picked up a fabulous 26 points out of a possible 33. We don't need to fear anyone.

Champions Rangers arrived on Saturday with a long list of unavailable players. Nevertheless, it was a powerful looking team that they fielded with the majority of their players being internationals. The one unfamiliar face was nineteen year old keeper, Mark Brown.

The Hibs team picks itself these days and we are reaping the benefits of having a settled line-up. There is a real cohesion about the team and everyone knows the job they have to do. There is also a very evident team spirit about this Hibs side. They stick together, even when things get tough.

Hibs started the match very brightly and during the first half hour there was plenty of good flowing movement to enthuse over. Rangers were slower to get going and looked a bit unsure at the back. Amoruso in particular made a couple of early blunders. The first of these, a poor back header, allowed David Zitelli in for a snap shot which Brown touched over.

Zitelli looked very sharp in this half and one thing he will never be accused of is being afraid to shoot. The Frenchman had countless attempts from all sorts of distances and angles. Latapy too had a couple of good runs and shots but the efforts all flew wide.

Rangers, despite their sloppiness at the back did carve out one or two openings in the first half but the final efforts on goal were all very weak.

Hibs needed a goal from this period of superiority and it duly arrived after twenty minutes. John O'Neil, who was excellent throughout, exchanged passes in the midfield before spotting Zitelli on a long run down the inside right channel. His weighted pass ahead of the Frenchman was perfect and Zitelli took one touch before striking the ball right footed past Brown and into the corner. Easter Road erupted and the celebrations had begun.

During the final fifteen minutes of the first half Rangers came back into the match and started to get the passing going, but without ever threatening to score.

At the start of the second half both team made substitutions. David Zitelli did not reappear and his place was taken by Lehmann. Rangers made a double substitution, taking off Porrini and Johnston and bringing on Kanchelskis and ex-Hibees hero Kenny Miller - his arrival and every touch being greeted by booing and chants of Judas.

I have to be honest and say that the second half was entirely different to the first with Hibs pinned back in their own half almost throughout. I wondered if it was a deliberate tactic because we seemed to be so unnecessarily deep at times. In fact, once or twice Amoruso took the ball from Keeper Brown and ran unchallenged to the half way line before meeting any Hibs player.

If it was a deliberate tactic to try and play on the break then it so nearly worked because once or twice Rangers were very exposed by quick breakouts by Hibs. I felt that with just a little more guile we could have had a second goal. Two or three times we seemed to take the wrong option when a pass in the opposite direction would have found a breaking player in the clear. Hibs best chance of the half was a clever chip from Gary Smith which crashed off the bar with young Brown rooted to the spot.

Rangers, for all their possession, never looked like over-running a well marshalled Hibs defence. Their best chance fell to Kanchelskis who was right through and had a choice between staying on his feet or going for the triple salko. He went for the latter and was rightly booked for his efforts. Barry Ferguson and Albertz both had the ball in the Hibs net but these efforts were correctly chalked off for offside and hand ball respectively.

By the end, Rangers looked desperate and were charging around like headless chickens - a bit like Dick Advocaat on the touchline, in fact. Their misery was compounded when Kanchelskis picked up a second booking and headed for the early bath.

The final whistle was met by a wall of sound as the capacity home crowd exploded and the players went through a lengthy celebration on the pitch. Alex McLeish was clearly elated as his team had just overcome a major exercise in self-belief.

Everyone in the Hibs team deserves huge credit for their efforts but my man of the match was definitely John O'Neil. He was superb throughout and showed not only amazing energy but also no fear whatsoever of the opposition.

Hibs Team 3-5-2

Colgan
Smith G, Sauzee, Fenwick
Lovell, O'Neil, Latapy, Jack, Laursen
Zitelli (Lehmann), Paatelainen

Subs not used : Franks, Andrews, Murray, McManus